About a Son
by Subject87
Summary: Sequel to iBelieve. Now Thirteen Freddie Benson Jr. Meets Carly Puckett, finds out what happened to his father, and discovers his parent's legacy. Meanwhile Sam and Carly reunite and try to mend their broken friendship. Rated K for now.
1. iReunite

Thirteen year old Freddie Benson Jr. sat on his bed and stared at the photo in his hand of his mother, his father, and a blonde woman his mom called Sam. Running is index finger over the left edge of the frame, where his father stood with his arms folded under his chest and his eyes locked on his mother who was standing next to Sam "What happened to you guys?" he whispered softly, "You look so happy here."

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and his best friend walked in "What're you looking at?" he asked.

"Nothing Kurt" he said and quickly hid the picture. Kurt and Freddie had grown up together and had quickly become best friends "How's your Dad?" he asked.

With a shrug Kurt plopped down on the bed "He's fine.. I mean, him and Mom have been arguing lately but I think that's just because Dad is.. Dad"

Nodding he laughed "But your Dad is awesome dude, I mean.. Uncle Gibby is like.. The funniest guy I know, besides maybe Uncle Spencer"

"Anyway, how's Aunt Carly?" he asked as he grabbed a small Galaxy Wars figure off of the night stand.

"She's fine, work has been crazy for her lately.. Or so she tells me, but we're doing good" he said. His mother worked at the local news station where she'd just been promoted. "I think she gets home in an hour, do you want to stay for dinner?" he asked, a grin finally appearing on his face.

"That sounds great! Think she'll make those tacos like Spencer does?" he asked.

"Oh Spaghetti Tacos? That's a great idea dude!" he said excitedly"Did you see the new Galaxy Wars game? It looks amazing"

With a nod Kurt grinned "Got it last night dude"

Walking over to his computer Freddie brought up the internet and typed in the name of the new Galaxy wars game "Jeez it's expensive, I just got a new pearphone though.. So I can't afford it"

"Wait, what happened to your old one?" Kurt asked and shook his head "Your cousin asked to play with it didn't she?" he asked.

With a sigh Freddie nodded "Yeah and she has her fathers ability to set things on fire.. I swear she touched it and it burst into flames!"

Shrugging Kurt grinned "Your cousin is hot though dude, no pun intended"

"Ugh, that's nasty man.. She's my cousin!" he replied with a shudder.

"Not my cousin man, besides man.. We're almost 14, we're growing up dude, we need girls"

Spinning around in his chair Freddie looked at Kurt like he was insane"Yeah.. That's next on my list, right after graduating and getting a great job, I'm not worried about girls. I mean sure it'd be nice to have a girlfriend but face it, I'm a nerd, a geek, whatever. I'm not going to get a girl in middle school or high school" Turning around to face his computer again he began typing "There's a new pearpad coming out dude, I gotta save up!" he said, his face lighting up as he read about the newest release from the pear company.

Finally after two hours of video games, making fun of their teachers, and watching an old episode of Galaxy Wars they were summoned to the kitchen by Carly who had just gotten home. "Oh Kurt, are you staying for dinner?" she asked.

"I planned to, if that's okay with you" he said politely.

"So Mom Spaghetti Tacos?" Freddie asked eagerly.

"Alright alright, go upstairs until I call you" she said and got out the noodles and a pan. When the boys ran upstairs she pulled out her phone and sent a text to Spencer inviting him over for dinner. She got a reply within seconds that he and Miranda would be over but Sasha couldn't make it.

Twenty minutes later Carly's voice rang through the house announcing dinner was ready. The boys ran downstairs and froze as the front door opened and Spencer and Miranda walked in.

"Uncle Spencer!" Freddie shouted and ran over to give him a hug.

"Hey buddy" Spencer said happily and hugged his nephew "How's middle school?" he asked.

"Schools good, I mean.. I can't wait to get out of there but it's going good" he replied happily.

"Okay okay, let's eat before it gets cold" Carly said as she served the tacos.

"You know" Spencer said as he picked up one of his tacos, "This was my invention.. I should patent this"

Carly rolled her eyes at her older brother "You've been saying that for years, You're getting to old to patent anything" she teased.

"Hey! I'm not that old!" he insisted and took a bite "Besides, I'm still a genius."

"Swallow your food before you speak" Carly said, an amused smile on her face.

After dinner, and some subtle flirting from Kurt to Miranda Spencer left with Miranda, and Kurt announced his dad had texted him, asking him to come home.

Carly looked across the table at Freddie and smiled "Mother son movie night?" she asked. Nodding eagerly he went over and grabbed Galaxy Wars.

"Pleaseeeee?" he asked as he held the movie up.

"Just like his father" she muttered and nodded "Alright alright, Galaxy Wars" she said with a dramatic sigh "I'll suffer through the nerdiness if it makes my son happy."

After the movie he went upstairs and headed to bed, wishing the weekend wasn't over and that tomorrow wasn't school again.

The alarm went off at 6, like it did every morning, and he awoke to an empty house. Carly had to work the morning news so she had to be at work extremely early, meaning Freddie had to fix his own breakfast most mornings but he didn't mind.

Walking to school, like he did most days, he was joined by Kurt who simply grinned "I think your cousin likes me" he said.

Rolling his eyes Freddie looked at him "Dude, not cool" he said, "She's my cousin."

"So? She's not my cousin" Kurt replied dryly.

Freddie shook his head and they continued to walk to school.

At King5 news station Carly sat at her news desk and shuffled through her papers and mentally memorized important parts. Finally when she was satisfied she was prepared for the 12 o'clock news she headed out to lunch.

Even after all these years Carly still couldn't believe that after all these years she was a news anchor, it seemed like just yesterday her, Sam, and.. Freddie had done iCarly. Blinking she shook her head of these thoughts, she didn't like to think about her old web show because every memory was somehow connected with Freddie Sr.

After lunch she reported to her desk to do the noon and found a new co anchor sitting beside her, a familiar blonde she hadn't seen in years "Sam...?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit.

"Hey cupcake" Sam said and smiled "We'll talk after the show.. Okay?"

Nodding she turned back to focus on the camera and report the news, though her eyes would occasionally wander over to her old friend. After the broadcast Carly to the back and grabbed a bottle of water and took a sip before turning around to look at Sam who had followed her.

"Let me explain" Sam said quickly as she picked up her own bottle of water and took a large gulp.

"When did you turn into a fish?" Carly asked dryly.

Sam put the bottle down and crossed her arms under her chest "Alright I know I kind of.. Vanishe-"

"Kind of?" Carly interrupted. "You left without a word, I needed you and you were gone!"

Sam nodded "I just.. I couldn't handle being a third wheel" she said, "You and.."

"Stop" Carly interrupted and put her hand up "Listen, I don't have time for this.. I need to prepare for the show at noon, Can we go somewhere after and talk?" she asked.

Sam sighed "Fine" she said, "Is Galini's still open?" she asked curiously.

Shaking her head she sighed "No, they closed down.. But there's a Starbucks down the street where we can talk alone"

"Alright, after this?" Sam asked hopefully.

With a nod Carly put the bottle down and glanced at Sam before heading in front of the cameras.

After her news broadcast Carly headed outside the news station to think for a moment while Sam talked to their boss. She leaned against the building and closed her eyes, memories that she'd thought long buried began to resurface. Blinking back tears that had formed in her eyes as the door opened and out came the familiar blonde.

"Ready to go Cupcake?" Sam asked but stopped at Carly's glare.

"You don't get to come back after all these years and pretend like nothing's changed Sam, you left us.. You left me" Carly said.

Sam looked at her and sighed "I know I did, and I'm sorr-" She began but was cut off.

"No you don't get to apologize that easily" Carly snapped "You don't get to come back after all these years and pretend like I'm just going to forgive you.. We're not kids anymore Sam, you made a choice and now you have to live with the consequences! It's not like when we were kids and I just let everything you did slide!"

"You done?" Sam asked, her voice oddly calm, "I get it, I'm the bad guy and you're the good guy, it was always like this as kids.. Fr-"

"No" Carly said quickly "Don't you bring him up, Did you ever stop to think that maybe you were the bad guy because of all the stuff you put him through?"

"Well obviously I wasn't that bad" Sam snapped "He still ended up dating me and told me he love-"

She was cut off by a slap from Carly who looked ready to kill "He was settling for you and we know it" she said, "Luckily for me he realized that you aren't me and you never will be.. I'm just glad I came to my senses"

Narrowing her eyes Sam sighed "This was a bad idea Carly, I've been gone to long.. We're not the same as we used to be"

Carly's eyes softened and she sighed "Listen, I know there's a lot between us right now.. But we'll get through it I hope.. I have missed you Sam"

Sam nodded "I hope so Cupcake.. But for now I need to get home, I don't have to show up for the evening news tonight."

"Yeah me either" Carly said, "Thankfully, I'll get to spend time with my son." She said and smirked, "Explain later" she said at the confused look on Sam's face. "Bye Sam" she said.

When Carly got home she took a look at her house, she'd been so busy working she hadn't had a chance to clean up much. Looking at her watch she sighed and shook her head, it was one o'clock meaning she had two hours until Freddie got home from school.

At 3:10 exactly the door opened and in walked Freddie, "Hey Mom" he said tossing his backpack down by the door, "Did you get off early?" he asked eagerly.

Nodding she smiled "Yep, so what do you wanna do?" she asked, "Take out and a movie?" she asked.

"That sounds good!" he said grinning, "It's awesome you got off early, I mean you just don't get enough days off" he said.

Carly nodded "I know, And I wish I could change it but my new promotion is keeping me extremely busy"

"I know" Freddie said, "And it's cool Mom, I promise" he said, "I enjoy Kurt's house" he promised her.

"Alright so what do you want to rent tonight from On Demand?" she asked.

"Oh! Chronicle is on here" he said as he plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV to scroll through the list of movies "And other movies I've never heard of" he said.

"Alright alright, how about a comedy?" she asked rolling her eyes, "I can only take so much science fiction and Galaxy Wars last night was my limit"

"Aww Mom.. Alright here's something.. It's supposed to be funny, and it's rated PG-13" he said, scanning the list.

Carly looked up and couldn't help but smile at how much he looked like his father "Alright we'll watch it, you want the usual?" she asked.

Nodding eagerly he couldn't help but lick his lips "I can taste it already" he said grinning.

"Down boy" she teased playfully as she called in the order "Okay order the movie so we can start it before the food gets here."

Nodding he hit okay on the remote and Carly walked over to sit on the couch beside him, twenty minutes later the doorbell rang and Carly reluctantly got up to get the food. Freddie hit pause and watched as his mom pulled out her purse to grab some money.

After she got the food she sat back down and handed him his food "Smells amazing" he said grinning and grabbing a pair of the chop sticks.

"You eat with Chopsticks?" she asked, sounding almost amused.

He shrugged "No better time to learn" he replied as he dug in.

Twenty minutes later, and a lot of giggles from Carly, and Freddie had managed to wear most of his food "Get a fork" she said shaking her head as she finished her food "They gave us plastic ones" she told him, pointing at her own plastic fork.

"Yes Mother" he said dryly and grinned as he grabbed the other plastic fork.

After the movie, which both Mother and Son agreed wasn't that funny, Carly looked at her watch "Well, we got plenty of time.. What next?" she asked.

"Want to play a game or two?" he asked, an evil looking smirk on his face.

Groaning she sat back " I always lose at those!" she complained.

"Exactly" he said grinning excitedly "It's fun constantly winning against you."

Rolling her eyes she nodded "Alright but do up the dishes before we play any games, I cleaned the rest of the house but I didn't feel up to doing the dishes"

"Aww.. Do I have to?" he asked, "I hate dishes"

"Yeah so so I" she replied dryly, "But I cleaned everything else, all you have to do is dishes"

"Fine" he said picking up the dishes from their takeout and tossing them in the trash "I vote we get a dishwasher or paper plates" he called from the kitchen.

"We have a dishwasher, you" she called back and closed her eyes, the days events replaying through her mind like a movie.

What seemed like only moments turned out to be minutes as she was jolted out of her own home movie by Freddie waving his hand in her face "You okay?" he asked concerned "You spaced out there."

"I'm alright Freddie" she promised, "Just a tiring day at work... Let's play a game then you need to do your homework" she said.

He nodded and headed upstairs, soon to be followed by Carly.

After four straight matches of Carly losing and Freddie winning she put down the controller "Homework time" she told him.

"Alright" he said, a satisfied smirk on his face as he headed downstairs to get his homework. As Freddie did his homework Carly headed downstairs and tried to decide if she should call Spencer, she could use some advice now that Sam was back, but decided it was probably to late and she should let it go.

Two hours later she headed up to check on him and found him asleep at his desk. "Wake up" she whispered and shook him gently.

"huh.. What?" he asked tiredly and rubbed his eyes.

"Go to bed" she ordered, "You're exhausted" she said.

"A'ight" he mumbled and walked over to his bed and collapsed "Night Mom" he muttered before going back to sleep.

Carly smiled and walked down the hall to her room and sat on her bed. Picking up the picture of her and Freddie on their first date she laid down and looked at it, the familiar ache in her heart returning as she studied the picture "I don't know what to do anymore Freddie" she whispered to the picture, "I thought I had finally moved on from all this.. Put the hurt behind me.. But Sam comes back and mentions you and I'm ready to fall apart again."

Putting the picture back down on the night stand she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let sleep wash over her.

**Note: ** This is my first story with OC's being so important to the plot, so I hope you like it. I don't own iCarly and such. I promise I'm working on a new chapter of Trust for those who are waiting for me to update it but I just haven't had inspiration hit me to work on that story. I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave me plenty of reviews!


	2. iDiscover

Carly's eyes snapped open as her alarm went off and she quickly hit the snooze button. Since she had the morning shift off today she could take Freddie, and Kurt, to school and then get ready for the 12 o'clock news. She allowed herself to glance at the picture on her nightstand before getting up and preparing for the day.

She put on a pair of black dress pants and a black dress shirt and a pair of black high heels "I look like I'm going to a funeral" she muttered as she headed to Freddie's door and pounded on the door "Time to wake up" she called, "It's time for school"

Freddie's eyes opened slowly as he heard pounding on his door, then his mom's voice telling him to wake up "I'm awake I'm awake" he grumbled as he slowly pulled his blankets off of him and shook himself to try and wake up. Walking over to his dresser he pulled out a pair of jeans and a black and red striped shirt "Perfect" he muttered as he got dressed.

Five minutes later he headed downstairs to the smell of breakfast cooking "I texted Kurt, he'll be over in a few" he told Carly as he walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Turning on the T.V he browsed through the channels "Nothing good is ever on in the morning" he grumbled.

Kurt walked in just as Carly announced breakfast was done, grinning he walked over to the table and sat down "Morning Aunt Carly" he said cheerfully.

"Dude, how are you so cheerful in the morning?" Freddie asked as he sat beside his best friend and shook his head.

"Coffee, a lot of it" Kurt replied dryly.

"That stuff is gross!" Freddie exclaimed as his plate was filled with bacon, eggs, and toast. "Whoa Mom, What did we do to deserve an awesome breakfast like this?" he asked grinning.

"I know you probably eat cereal or something when I can't take you to school, so I decided to make a nice breakfast for you and Kurt today" she replied as she handed Kurt his own plate.

"Wow, you need to get the mornings off more!" Both boys exclaimed happily as they dug in.

While they ate Carly picked at her plate, yesterday's events finally catching up with her, a weary sigh escaped her lips and she finally started eating.

After breakfast she dropped the boys off at school and looked at her watch, she has a lot of free time before work, With a sigh she pulled off the main highway, deciding to talk to the one person who she could always count on.. Spencer.

She pulled up to Spencer's at 8:30 just in time to catch him leaving and walked up to him "Spencer!" she shouted.

"Yeah?" he asked curiously.

"Sam's back" she said in a hushed tone and grabbed his arm "We got into a fight and.. I think Freddie suspects something and I just don't know what to do"

Spencer nodded and smiled sympathetically "I think you should consider telling him the truth Sis.. He's old enough he needs to know"

Carly looked surprised for a moment before nodding "I guess so" she said softly, "But I don't even know where to begin"

"That's something you'll have to figure out!" he said quickly "I'm gonna be late" glancing at his watch he tugged out of her grasp and headed to his car.

"Some things never change" she muttered with an amused smile before heading back to her care, thinking about what he had said.

Freddie and Kurt walked into school and headed to their lockers, which happened to be right next to each other, and Freddie glanced at Kurt "My mom was acting weird last night man, I don't know what happened but she seemed.. Depressed"

"What do you mean? Your Mom is always the most upbeat person I know dude" Kurt said, "Did you ask her about it?"

"Yeah, she said she was just tired but.. I don't know, I thought I heard crying last night Kurt, I'm worried" Freddie replied as he shut his locker and leaned against them.

"You don't think it has to do with your father do you?" Kurt asked curiously, shutting his locker and turning to face Freddie "I mean, the only time I've ever seen your mom sad is when someone brings him up"

Freddie nodded sadly, talking about his father had always been a touchy subject since he'd never met the man, "But I mean, it's not like it's her fault he walked out on he-"

"Whoa man, How do you know he walked out? From what I heard your dad would do anything for your mom, I don't think he walked out" Kurt said hurriedly

"Well then where is he?" Freddie asked, his voice low but full of emotion "I mean, Where has he been for the last thirteen years? Why doesn't my mom talk about him?"

Kurt listened and sighed, he felt sorry for his friend, "Listen man. I'm sorry about your dad, if I can help you find out anything I will.. But right now we need to focus on school, we're gonna be late for first period."

"You're right" Freddie said with a sigh, "I'll talk to my mom after school.. Sort out this mess"

Kurt grinned "That's my boy!" he said and patted him on the back "Meet you in second period" he said before running off to go to class.

After Kurt left Freddie reopened his locker and put his books back, realizing he'd grabbed the wrong books, as he rummaged through the books and papers he felt someone bump into him.

"Hey watch it!" A feminine voice came from behind him.

"You bumped into me" he retorted and turned around to find a blonde girl standing there, arms crossed over her chest.

A playful smirk appeared on her face as she studied him "Okay, so maybe I did.. What're you gonna do about it?" she asked

He shrugged "It was no big deal" he said and closed his locker, "I'm Freddie.. Freddie Benson Jr."

"Jr.? Why Jr.?" she asked curiously.

"I share my Dad's name" he said, sadness creeping back into his voice

"Oh, that's cool.. Benson.. That sounds kinda familiar" she said with a shrug "Anyway, I'm Carly.. Carly Puckett"

"Wait, Carly? That's my mom's name!" he said laughing, "That's.. Weird"

"So what? Anyway.. It's nice to meet you" Carly said, suddenly turning shy.

Freddie looked confused for a moment but nodded "Nice to meet you too..?" he said. "Listen, I need to get to class.. You're new here aren't you?" he asked.

She nodded "Yup, so how about you show me round?" she asked, moving a bit closer to him.

"Alright alright" he said "Just uh, take a step or two back?" he asked as she stood right in front of him.

"Make me" she challenged and grinned.

"Alright then" he said, though made no move to do anything, "What's your first period?" he asked.

"Uhm.. History" she said looking at her schedule.

"Oh cool, that's my first period.. This way" he said nodding his head to the right and turning to head to class.

"Cool" Carly grinned as she followed him to class.

Freddie sighed again, thinking this day couldn't get any stranger.

Carly Shay pulled into the news station at eleven thirty. Leaning back in her seat she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to relax, she'd spent her entire free time driving until she'd ended up at Bushwell Plaza. Fighting back the urge to yawn she sat up when Sam tapped on her window. She rolled down her window and looked at Sam with a curious expression.

"Hey Carly" she said, her voice empty of any emotion, "Can we talk about.. Yesterday?" she asked.

"I'd rather pretend it didn't happen" Carly said softly, " Just please Sam.. Ignore it"

"No, I won't" Sam said stubbornly, "We were best-"

"Were Sam" Carly said, "Key word is were... You made your choices Sam, we all did"

"I refuse to believe that Carly, What's really bothering you?" she asked.

"You! I told you yesterday, you don't get to come back after all these years and pretend nothing's changed" She said.

"Listen to me Carly!" Sam practically shouted "I made mistakes, but I'm asking for forgiveness.. Please, I've missed you Carls"

"I.. I need to think about it" she snapped, "I need to get ready for work" she said, trying to calm herself down as she got out of her car and headed inside.

The news broadcast was a disaster with the obvious tension between the two co-anchors and Carly sighed in relief when the show was over.

Carly and Sam, to no one's surprise, weren't going to be on the evening news so they could go home right after the staff meeting. Carly glanced at her watch and smiled as she noticed she might just make it home before Freddie did. The meeting was about the usual, discussing budget cuts and what this might mean for the various reporters.

"Carly, we have an opportunity for you" her boss announced "We need someone to go out into the field and report on the new factory opening on the outskirts of town tomorrow, Think you can do it?"

"Of course!" She said excitedly, she'd been dreaming of going out into the field and doing some on scene reporting "Count me in!"

"Good, be there at 10:30 A.M sharp Miss Shay" he said, "Meetings over, anyone who doesn't need to be here, please leave."

Carly headed home quickly, eager to get home before her son, and fixed herself a quick lunch since she'd skipped it at work, a quick and easy to make lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and decided to relax and watch some T.V.

Freddie walked in at 3:10 and smirked to himself when he saw his mother napping on the couch. Quietly sitting on the ground he grinned and poked her arm.

Carly jumped and looked around "Wha-?" she asked, wiping her eyes with her hands "What time is it?"

"Three ten" he said, "You fell asleep"

"Oh, I'm sorry.. I guess I was tired" she said with a yawn.

"It's fine, look Mom.. Can we talk?" he asked curiously

Carly nodded "You know you can talk to me about anything Freddie"

Freddie sighed and leaned forward, not sure where to begin, "I want to know what happened to Dad Mom, you told me you would explain when I'm older.. Well I'm older"

Carly nodded and sighed "Alright.. You want to know.. You have the right to know" she said. "Do you remember the hero story you loved so much as a kid?"

Freddie nodded "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" he asked curiously.

"The three characters in that story were Your Dad, our friend Sam, and me" Carly said smiling, "We hosted a web show named iCarly, named by your father who would have done anything to gain my attention, and.. things went well for awhile"

Freddie looked at her, speechless, and nodded. The story he'd grown up with had actually been the story of his parents "He.. You guys eventually got together though, didn't you?" he asked

Carly nodded "You remember the story, good" she continued, "That'll save me some time.. As you know Sam kind of drifted apart from us after your father and I started dating"

Freddie nodded "Yeah, she was your best friend.. Why'd she leave?" he asked.

Carly shrugged "maybe she didn't want to be a third wheel.. Maybe she felt jealous, I always suspected that she had feelings for your father, either way after she left your father and I decided to end iCarly because it just wasn't the same without Sam."

"Why wasn't it?" Freddie asked, ever full of questions.

Carly sighed and smiled "You're just like your father" she said, "We just.. We weren't the iCarly trio anymore and the show wasn't the same" Carly sat back on the couch and closed her eyes, letting the memories she'd tried so hard to forget. "Your father and I's relationship flourished after that.. I think it was because we didn't have to worry about Sam being left out, and soon he asked me to marry him"

Freddie felt guilty when he heard the sadness in her tone 'This must be so painful for her' he thought guiltily as she continued.

"The night he asked me to marry him he took me to an amazing restaurant, it was one of the classiest in town, and we had an amazing dinner.. I almost tackled him to the ground when he proposed" she said.

"Then, if you were so happy.. What happened?" he asked suddenly "Where is my father?"

"Your father was a brave man, a hero.. I know I told you the hero's lived happily ever after but they didn't" she said sadly "On the way out someone mugged us, your father tried to stand up to them and he was shot"

Freddie froze, his mind putting two and two together "he died didn't he?" he asked.

Carly nodded, letting the tears fall "Y-yes.. T-The ambulance it.. It didn't get there on time" she said sadly.

Freddie scooted over to his mom and hugged her tightly "I'm so sorry Mom" he whispered softly, letting his own tears fall as his mom hugged him back "You must miss him so much"

"I do.. I miss him every day, but it's okay because even when he's not here he's watching out for me" she whispered "He gave me you"

Freddie nodded and pulled away "I.. I'm gonna go do my homework" he said quickly and headed upstairs, needing to be alone for awhile.

**Note: **I hope you enjoy this chapter! I had a bit of a rough time with this one, but I think it turned out okay. Im really working on the next chapter of Trust and the sequel to iRealize I promise, just having a bit of writers block. Thanks to PD31 for beta reading this and as usual I don't own iCarly.


	3. iMake a New Friend

Freddie woke up reluctantly the next morning and paused a moment as last night came rushing back.

"My Dad... He didn't really leave me" he said softly. He didn't know if he should be happy or depressed about the fact that, while his father hadn't actually left him like he'd originally thought, his father was dead and he would never see him again. He got out of bed and walked over to his closet, thankful that today was Friday, and picked out a black T shirt and blue jeans. He quickly got dressed and headed down stairs, a comb in his short brown hair as he walked into the kitchen.

Carly, as usual on Friday's, had left for work half an hour ago so he had the place to himself; he pulled out two slices of bread and put them in the toaster for breakfast before walking over to the fridge. He looked down at the contents in the fridge and smiled "Bless you Mom" he said and pulled out a turkey lunchable "I really didn't want another PB&J" he grumbled.

He spread grape jelly onto the pieces of toast and looked down as his phone rang with a text from Kurt saying that he was going to visit his cousins and wouldn't be back until Sunday night. "Aw man" Freddie grumbled; he had been hoping to talk to Kurt about what he'd found out last night but now that would have to wait until Sunday night. Typing back a quick reply about seeing him Sunday he hit send and snapped his phone shut.

The walk to school was the same as usual and he met Miranda at the door "Hey" he said softly, walking up to her.

"Oh hey Freddie" she said turning from her friends "How's Aunt Carly? She came to see Dad yesterday but he didn't mention what for."

His mom had been to see his Uncle Spencer? "I don't know, she didn't mention it to me but she's fine, I mean... nothing really new to report" he lied. He opened his mouth to tell her what he'd learned but clamped it shut, he and his cousin got along but he wasn't sure if she was the best one to tell about that.

"Something wrong Freddie?" she asked curiously, a concerned look on her face.

"Nope, not at all" he said and sighed "I'm just not fully awake" he lied. He never lied to anyone, especially family, so why had he started now? "I'll talk to you later Miranda, Kurt says hi" he said, ignoring the blush on her face at the mention of Kurt. He walked over to his locker and opened it without a word and grabbed his books.

The blonde girl he met yesterday entered his mind and he shook his head quickly "I don't even know you" he grumbled as he slammed his locker shut. Turning around he noticed the same blonde he'd been thinking of just a moment ago walking down the hall to her locker. He was tempted to say hi but thought better of it; after all he didn't really feel like talking to anyone.

The day moved slowly and Freddie noticed Kurt's absence more and more. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't help but wonder how his life would be if he knew his father and how his mother's life would be if he was still alive. Most of all he wondered what kind of person his father must have been.

He was also curious about the friend his mother had talked about. Who had she been? Why had she left? He knew his mom had tried to explain it as best she could, but the only ones who could really answer these questions were long gone.

He briefly considered looking up his mom's friend, but dismissed it quickly as an insane idea. Finally it was lunch time and he headed to where he always ate lunch, the roof. Hearing the door open he turned around and saw Carly Puckett again "Oh... it's just you" he said turning his back to her and pulling out the Lunchable out of the brown bag he'd brought it in and opened it, taking out a piece of turkey and two crackers.

"Nice to see you too" she retorted as she walked over to him "I noticed your friend isn't here, so I thought I might keep you company in his place"

"Oh um... thanks" he said, not wanting to be rude.

Carly pulled a ham sandwich out of her backpack and glanced at him "So what's up? You've been sulking all day. I know we just met yesterday and I'm new and all but even I can tell something is eating at you"

Freddie's shoulders slumped and he shook his head "I don't wanna talk about it" he muttered "It's just… complicated"'

"I'm a pretty smart person when I put my mind to it" she said, "Try me."

With a sigh he pushed his food away, "Fine, you really want to know?" he asked, glancing at her.

"I really wanna know" she confirmed, shaking her head.

"I've never known my father. For years I thought he'd just left me and my mom and was off having fun somewhere" he trailed off, still not sure if he should continue.

"He didn't, did he?" Carly asked softly, a sympathetic look on her face.

"No he... he was killed before I was born, in fact he didn't even know about me.. My parents had just gotten engaged when he was killed." He could feel tears threatening to fall and he blinked "and my mom... she misses him so much and now I realize that I'll never get to know my father"

Carly frowned "I'm so sorry" she said sadly "I never knew my father, he ran out on my mom when he found out she was pregnant with me"

"I'm sorry… that must be hard, harder than knowing your father was killed" He put his food back into his bag and smiled "Thank you... for listening, maybe after school you could come over to my house?" he asked, "I mean... we could hang somewhere?"

Carly felt her cheeks redden and she grinned "I'd like that, meet you at the entrance right after school?" she asked.

He nodded "sounds good, I gotta go. AV club stuff to do"

She nodded and watched him go, finishing her ham sandwich before heading to next period.

The rest of the day flew by quickly and Freddie found himself looking forward to the end of the day and a potential new friend. Finally the last belly rang and he met the blond at the school entrance like they'd discussed. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I put my books away last period" she said.

"But isn't that… history?" he asked, remembering bits of her schedule.

"Yeah so?" she retorted "I took a nap"

He shook his head, an amused smile on his face "Alright, let's go" he said "But you really shouldn't sleep in class" he added in quickly. Opening the door he nodded for her to go first before walking out the door and enjoying the beginning of what he hoped to be a great weekend.

Carly glanced at him from time to time as they walked, hoping she was being subtle, and finally broke the silence "So have you always lived here in Seattle?"

"All my life, My mom was raised by my uncle because my Grandpa was in the military" he explained.

"You have a grandpa in the military? That must have been cool" she said

"I never knew him, he died shortly before I was born" he said, "I don't really know how"

"I'm sorry to hear that" she said, looking around "Seattle is nice."

"Usually is, except for when it rains... Then it gets ugly" he replied,

"My mom mentioned that" she said casually.

He glanced up at her "Your mom lived here previously?" he asked curiously.

She nodded and looked up "Is this your house?" she asked, noticing he'd stopped walking.

He nodded and unlocked his door "Come on in, mom won't be home for a few hours yet"

She blinked "Your mom lets you have girls over when no one's around?"

"My Mom trusts me" he said, "Besides, we're just gonna watch T.V in the living room"

She nodded slowly and followed after him, plopping down on the couch and rolling her eyes as he scrolled through the DVR "Galaxy Wars?" she asked

"Hey, Galaxy Wars is awesome" he said defensively.

"Whatever you say" she said; an amused smirk on her face as she rolled her eyes again and glued her eyes to the screen.

Freddie hit play and an episode of Galaxy Wars came on, within five seconds Carly was completely lost. She sighed and leaned forward "Can we please watch something else?" she asked.

He opened his mouth to say something but decided against it and hit stop "That's my favorite episode" he finally muttered as he flipped to another show, he had never seen it before but Carly seemed interested so he left it on and stood up "You thirsty?" he asked.

She nodded "I'll take a Peppy Cola."

"Two Preppy Cola's coming up" he said as he opened the fridge "Want a snack?"

"You got any Ham?" she asked curiously.

"Um... No" he replied and grabbed himself a pudding out of the fridge along with the sodas. When she didn't reply he shrugged and walked back over to the couch, handing her a soda he stared at the TV, trying to figure out what was going on.

Finally the show ended and he glanced at his watch, his mom would be home soon, "My mom will be here soon" he told her, "Let's just watch something else then when she gets here I'll give you a tour"

She shook her head "C'mon, TV is boring... let's go exploring!" she said "Do you have an attic or basement?" she asked, "I bet there's some cool stuff in there"

He sighed "Yeah, I guess we can go look at that" he said "The basement door is in the hall over there, come on"

They walked through the hall to the door and he opened the door and turned the light on "I'll go first" he said "I've never been down here, the stairs might be weak or something"

Carly smirked but nodded, watching as he walked down the stairs. When he motioned for her to follow she took the stairs one by one, taking a deep breath as the middle three squeaked. Freddie moved to the center of the basement, where all the boxes were, and started rummaging through them.

He pulled out a few old video tapes "Talk about outdated" he muttered as he set them to the side and kept rummaging through, he found an old blue remote and examined it closely "Interesting.." he put it to the side and made a mental note to ask his mom about it later. Finally he found an old photo album, covered in dust.

Taking a deep breath he blew away the dust, revealing a black cover with a white sticker label on it that said **iCarly** in black sharpie marker. "This... This is..." he trailed off and opened it.

The first page showed his three young people, a guy and two girls, that he recognized as his mom and her two friends from the picture he had on his nightstand. "Carly! Come look at this!" he said, flipping through the pictures.

He recognized Gibby, his Uncle Spencer, and even his Aunt Sasha "This is... Amazing" he muttered, not noticing Carly walk up behind him and freeze as he turned to a picture of his mom and Sam.

"Mom?" she asked surprised.

**Note**: I hope you enjoy this chapter! I know I loved writing it.

Again, I promise to try and update Trust soon, but I plan to write a Resident Evil/Evil Dead crossover next time I get a chance too, luckily I came home for fathers day so I got to write this! As usual I don't own iCarly and such. Please read and review. And as always thanks to my Beta dg31, you're epic man. I appreciate it alot.


	4. iPlan

Freddie jumped slightly at the sound of his new friend's voice and he turned around so quickly the scrapbook slipped off his knees and fell to the floor "M-Mom?" he repeated "Carly.. What's your last name?" he asked curiously, his mind was starting to put the pieces together but he wanted to make sure.

"Puckett" She said slowly "Carly Puckett." her eyes met his and he could have sworn she blushed.

"You're Sam Puckett's daughter!" he said, not knowing what to think, "Your Mom and my Mom were like.. Best friends."

Carly nodded "My Mom used to talk about her sometimes, it was rare and you could hear the sadness in her voice"

Freddie stood up and dusted off his pants "Yeah, my Mom told me the story, your Mom left years ago and that was the last she's seen of her. Since you're here it's obvious your Mom is too; I wonder if our Mom's have reunited" he said

"Slow down" Carly said with an amused tone "You're going a hundred miles a minute and I can't keep up"

He rolled his eyes and smiled playfully "Alright, I'll slow down for you" he said.

Carly returned his smile "Thanks" she said dryly, "I appreciate it."

"Oh anytime" he replied "Now anyway, where does your mom work?"

"Um some news station" she said, "Mom told me what it was called but I can't remember."

"Is it Kings 5 news?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah! That's it" she said excitedly "Is that where your Mom works?" she asked

He nodded "Yeah, she's worked there for I think 10, almost 11 years now" he said "I was really young when she got a job there."

"You know what we should do?" Sam asked curiously, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Go play the new Galaxy Wars game?" he asked excitedly

"No" Carly said, sounding confused "We need to reunite our Mom's, they obviously miss each other but knowing my Mom-"

"-And knowing my mom" Freddie interrupted.

"They're too stubborn to admit it" they said together.

"Alright, so how about this? I ask my Mom if I can have a friend and her Mom over for dinner tomorrow night you tell your Mom you were asked to come to dinner by a new friend and that she was invited too?"

Sam shook her head "No, we need to come up with something better than that." She trailed off for a moment and sighed, obviously thinking "I got it! The mall, we each ask our Mom's if they'll take us to the mall"

Before he could answer she turned around and headed downstairs, with a sigh he followed her "I'll text you, or you can text me or something" he said

"That sounds good" she said and pulled out the newest pearphone out of her pocket.

"Woah, you got the new one?" he asked, almost sounding jealous.

"Yeah my mom bought it for me when I broke my old one" she said as she headed to the door.

"How'd you break your old one?" he asked curiously

"Oh I um, threw it at a wall when it froze on me" she admitted shyly.

"That was a major glitch in the software of last year" he explained "It couldn't keep up with the processing-"

He was cut off by a laugh "Freddie I have no idea what you're talking about"

"Oh right, sorry" he said "Um basically the phone was doing too much for its brain to handle."

"That makes more sense" she said, though she sounded more amused than irritated "thanks, but I gotta go now; if we want this to work I need to get my homework done"

"Oh shoot, I forgot about our reading assignment" he said "Oh well, it should be fun"

She rolled her eyes "Fun? Doubt it, but it should be an okay read, I've read the book before"

He looked at her in disbelief "You've read _The Hobbit_? He asked

She rolled her eyes "I don't like lectures, it doesn't mean I don't like to read" she pointed out.

"True, I guess I just assumed.. I'm sorry" he said

"Don't worry about it, I don't look like the reading type I know, but I love reading, I just don't like doing reports on what I read" she explained.

"Alright, I see your point" he said. "So I'll text you tomorrow?" he asked curiously

"Yeah, this might just work" she said "Unless, of course, our Mom's hate each other after all this time" At the look of nervousness that appeared on Freddie's face she couldn't help but smile "I'm kidding" she said.

He nodded "I knew that, I totally knew that.." he trailed off before clearing his throat "Give me your number so I can text you tomorrow"

He could have sworn he saw her cheeks go pink again as she recited her number for him to put in his phone "Thanks, I'll send you a text so you'll have my number" he said

She nodded "Okay, now I really do have to go" she said "My Mom will be home soon"

"Alright, bye" he said again as he watched her leave. When she turned down the street he shut the door and leaned against it, wondering exactly what he'd been thinking, this plan was insane!

Looking at his watch he groaned and ran back the stairs, heading up the first flight of stairs and turning right. He headed into his room and prepared to work on his book report.

At the Kings 5 News Station parking lot Carly Shay sat in her car, she wanted to cry but knew now wasn't the time. Today had been especially stressful, Sam had given her the cold shoulder and she couldn't blame her after the way the brunette had been treating her former best friend.

She wasn't quite sure why she couldn't forgive Sam, she wanted to, but it was like every time she opened her mouth tell Sam she was sorry for the way she was treating her, that what she really wanted is her friendship again, but it seemed like every time she opened her mouth she was yelling at her again.

She needed advice, and the only person she could think of to talk to was Spencer, she started her care and took a deep breath, hoping that he was home.

When she pulled into his driveway she smiled as he walked out the door "Hey Kiddo" he said happily as she got out of the car "What brings you by?" he asked curiously.

She sighed "I was actually hoping I could talk to you" she said.

His expression turned serious and he nodded "C'mon lets go into the house and talk, Sasha took Miranda to the mall so we'll be alone"

"Thanks Spencer" she said as she walked into the house and sat down on his couch."

"So what's up?" he asked.

"Well like I told you before, Sam's back and she wants to be friends. Wants us to go back to how things used to be" she paused for a moment to let what she said sink in, "And I want that, I mean I didn't at first but I've been thinking, she was my best friend and I missed her. I just wish it hadn't taken her ignoring me to realize that."

Spencer sat there, the entire time, and even Carly had to admit she was proud of how he had matured over the years, settling down and becoming a Dad had really matured him though he still did some wacky things with his art.

"Well, it sounds to me like the only thing you can really do is apologize; Sam obviously missed you and regrets leaving like she did" he said.

She nodded "Alright I think I can do that" she sighed and looked at her watch "Listen, do you want to come and have dinner with us tonight?" she asked "You know Freddie loves when you come by."

"Alright, sounds good" he said "Can I just get a ride with you?" he asked curiously.

She nodded and rolled her eyes "Okay come on, Freddie's going to be wondering where we got off to." she said.

They headed out to the car and she drove them to her house. "Freddie" she called, "Uncle Spencer is here, why don't you come say Hi?"

Footsteps were soon heard and Freddie appeared "Uncle Spencer!" he said and hugged him tightly.

"Hey there, how's my favorite nephew?" Spencer asked with a grin

"I'm your only nephew" Freddie protested but he was grinning from ear to ear "Are you going to have dinner with us?" he asked

Spencer nodded "Sure am" he said "Did you get the new Galaxy Wars game?" he asked curiously.

"Of course I did, it's amazing!" Freddie said.

"I'll let you two get on with your little nerd fest" Carly interrupted, "But first what do you want for dinner?" she asked.

"Um, I don't care" Freddie said with a shrug.

"Chinese take out okay with everyone?" Carly asked, "I don't feel like cooking tonight"

"That sounds fine" came the voices of Spencer and Freddie as they ran upstairs to play Galaxy wars.

"Boys" Carly muttered, though secretly she was glad for some normalcy, this week had seemed like one giant mess. She picked up the phone and dialed the Chinese restaurant to order the food.

Upstairs Spencer sat down on the floor while Freddie started up the game "How's school going bud?" Spencer asked.

"It's going pretty good" Freddie said, debating on whether he should tell Spencer about the plan he and Carly had come up with but decided against it, he didn't want his Mom to find out before they could reunite her with her best friend.

"Meet any girls?" Spencer asked playfully.

"Well kinda" he paused for a moment "I'd rather focus on academics" he lied.

Spencer nodded for a moment, as if he knew Freddie was lying "Okay, whatever you say bud"

They played for about 20 minutes and they were evenly matched, they both won two rounds, and headed downstairs for dinner.

Carly, who had just gotten the food from the delivery guy, set it down on the table "Okay Spencer this is yours" she said handing him a plastic plate that held his favorite food, "And Freddie, this is yours" she said and handed him his plate.

They all sat down on the couch in the living room and flipped on a movie, which happened to be Iron Man, and Freddie grinned "I love this movie!" he said "It's got a terrific cast"

Spencer nodded in agreement and Carly rolled her eyes "Alright we'll watch this" she said. She turned her head to look at Freddie and smiled "Did you get your homework done?" she asked "I know I don't have to ask but I like to."

Freddie pretended to be annoyed as he said "Yes I did" but he was smiling.

She nodded and smiled "I just like to make sure"

Dinner went by quickly, conversation become just idle chat as Carly and Spencer discussed current events and Freddie was glued to the TV. Finally Carly tapped him on the shoulder and smiled "I'm taking Uncle Spencer home" she said "It's Friday night so you can stay up, but remember your bedtime is midnight"

Freddie nodded and hugged Spencer again "Night Uncle Spencer" he said.

"Night buddy, don't be a stranger, okay?" Spencer asked as he hugged back.

"I won't" he promised "in fact, I was thinking next weekend I could stay the night?" he asked hopefully.

Spencer nodded "Of course, if it's okay with your Mom" he said.

"Of course it's okay" Carly interrupted

"Then it's settled!" Spencer said, "I'll come get you Friday, or have your Mom drop you off, and you can stay for as long as you want"

"As long as he's back by Sunday" Carly reminded him.

"Of course, as long as your back by Sunday" he added.

"C'mon, I want to get home and go to bed" Carly said, "I'm exhausted."

Spencer headed to the door with a final wave to Freddie and then he was gone. Freddie headed back upstairs and sighed as he closed his door, the plan he and Carly had come up with was insane, but he really hoped it worked. He lay down on his bed and sighed, wondering what exactly tomorrow would bring.

**Note: **Whew, that was a bit of a long one, I hope you all like it! Please leave me some reviews so I can know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong, thanks again to my beta reader PD31. As usual I don't own iCarly or anything associated with it.


	5. iForgive

The alarm clock's dull beeping noise woke Freddie up at 10:30 A.M like it did every Saturday; he rolled out of bed and yawned. He headed to the bathroom across the hall and turned on the sink, the cold water making a familiar sound as it poured out of the faucet, and he cupped his hands to collect some. He brought the collected water up to his face and splashed himself to wake himself up.

The water to the face was a jolt to his senses and his eyes opened all the way, he was awake now, and sighed. He'd stayed up half the night thinking of different ways the plan he and Carly Puckett had come up with yesterday afternoon. Would his mom be mad? Would Carly's mom be mad and not allow them to be friends? Would it all work out? His mind had been like a tornado of ideas until about 3:30 A.M.

Going back to his room he dressed in a Nirvana T-shirt and jeans, remembering to grab his phone to text Carly, before heading downstairs for breakfast. His mom was already downstairs cooking breakfast "Morning sleepyhead" she teased as she looked up at him. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah Mom, slept great" he said with a smile as he sat at the table "what's for breakfast?" he asked curiously.

"French Toast, Bacon, and Eggs" she said as she went back to her cooking, she usually made them a nice breakfast on Saturday because it was the only day both of them didn't have work or school.

"So Mom" he said slowly, trying to keep the nervousness out his voice, "Can we go to the mall today?"

Without looking up she nodded "I need to look at the pear store anyway" she said, "I need a new car charger."

Freddie grinned and pulled out his phone, sending a text to Carly _Mom says it's okay, what time do you want to meet? _and hit send. He had set his phone on vibrate so his mom wouldn't get suspicious and ask who it was, he hated lying to his mother, and he picked it up the second it vibrated _Meet us at 3 in front of the Pear store. _Freddie grinned, that was convenient, replied back with a simple _K_ and put his phone in his pocket.

He looked up just as his Mom put a plate with two pieces of French Toast, two pieces of Bacon and two eggs in front of him "thanks Mom, it looks and" he paused as the aroma of the food hit him. "and smells amazing."

She nodded and set her own plate down "I think I've out done myself this time" she teased as she began to eat. He loved his mother's food, she was a really good cook, but whenever he told her she should have became a chef she just told him she wasn't cut out for it and she loved her current job.

After breakfast they watched a little TV and then talked about their weeks, the usual routine on a Saturday, and finally at Noon she began fixing lunch, usually Kurt would drop by and hang out with them but he was still out of town until tomorrow so it was just Freddie and his Mom.

Lunch consisted of bologna sandwiches and then it was off to the mall. They got there about 1:30 and Freddie dragged her to the comic book store, the video game store, then the movie store hoping to stall for time. Glancing at his phone he noticed it was 2:59 so he looked up at his mother "Want to go to the Pear Store now?" he asked.

Carly looked down at him, obviously tired from walking all over the mall, and nodded "Yeah, let's go" she said and pretended not to notice him pulling out his phone and texting someone. She couldn't help but be curious about whom he was texting, Kurt maybe, but she figured if it was important he'd tell her. She kept her eye on him, noticing he looked nervous as they approached the pear store and she knew something was up, he only looked nervous when he was planning something.

She stopped as she realized what it was, and he looked up as he noticed she had stopped and took a nervous breath, because standing in front of the store was Sam and her daughter Carly. Carly Shay looked down at her son and frowned, realizing she had been set up.

She walked slowly over to Sam and cleared her throat, smiling nervously as Sam turned around and looked at her, the surprise and caution evident in her eyes. They just stood there for a moment, both had known each other long enough that they didn't need to say a word to each other; Sam could read the look in Carly's eyes. Finally Carly spoke and sighed "Freddie, why don't you and your new friend go play" she said, "Sam and I have a lot to talk about" she said softly, her careful to leave her voice emotionless.

Freddie nodded to his Mom then glanced at Carly and motioned for her to follow. She opened her mouth to protest but he glared at her and she sighed, following him. "What do you think they're talking about ?" Carly asked after they were out of ear shot.

Freddie looked back and shrugged "They haven't seen each other in years" he said, "So they have a lot to catch up, and I'm sure there's an awkwardness there."

"Why would it be awkward?" she asked, "They were best friends..." she trailed off as a light went off in her head "Were being the keyword here" she said.

Freddie nodded "What do you say to a best friend whom you haven't seen in over thirteen years?" he asked.

Carly could only reply with a slow nod as they walked "you're right" she said, looking back up at him and smiling softly "You're pretty smart" she said, her smile turning playful.

"Thanks" he said with a grin, "You're pretty smart yourself" he said, the comic book store catching his eye just in time to miss her face go a soft shade of pink.

"Thanks" she whispered with a soft sigh as she followed him into the comic book store, "But do we have to stay here?" she asked "This is like... Nerd central"

He smirked "These are my people" he said, raising his arms and pointing around him. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, walking over to a row of comics and pretended to be interested while Freddie went to check on the Galaxy Wars section.

While Freddie and Carly were in the comic shop Sam was sitting there, looking at her old friend with a mix of curiosity, anger, and Carly could swear there was a bit of fear in her old friend's eyes. The idea of Sam Puckett looking afraid baffled Carly, all her life Sam had been the brave on.

"Listen.." Carly began but Sam held up her hand to interrupt her.

"No, I know what you're going to say and... I'm sorry" Sam began, "I knew you would have mixed emotions about seeing me again after all these years" she paused for a moment, obviously thinking of what to say next, "I spring all that on you too soon" she said with a soft sigh "I do miss you Carls" she said.

Carly smiled softly, a tear appearing in her eye "Sam I was going to tell you that I've been thinking" she paused to take a breath before continuing, "I miss you Sam.. You've come back into my life and now it seems everything that I'd thought was behind me is coming back and... I could use my best friend" she said.

Sam smiled softly and hugged her friend "You know I'll always be there for you Carls."

Carly closed her eyes and for the first time in what seemed a year her mind was at ease "Thank you" she whispered as she pulled away "It feels like a burden's been removed from my shoulders"

Sam smiled and shook her head "Same here, Life has been... Different since I left, I swear for the first few months all I did was watch old episodes of iCarly and sulk."

"Did you see our final episode, a tribute to iCarly, we did just after you left?" Carly asked, "That was an emotional moment for me"

Sam smiled "I could tell, I was happy you and Freddie finally got together, when we were together all he did was talk about you, and look out for you.. I knew it would never work out in the end."

Carly smiled softly and looked down, the mention of Freddie Sr. brought up a swirl of emotions. Sam put an arm around her friends shoulders and frowned "I'm sorry I didn't..." she trailed off as Carly shook her head.

"I just... I miss him so much, and I can't help but play that moment over in my head, wonder if there was anything I could have done to keep him alive"

Sam shook her head "There was nothing you could have done" she said softly, "Spencer told me the entire story."

Carly looked up at that "When did Spencer see you?" she asked curiously.

"I came back for the funeral, but I missed the actual funeral, so I made the viewing... I wanted to desperately to come talk to you but I couldn't" Sam sighed and put her hands in her lap, "So I gave Spencer a way to contact me and made him swear not to tell you."

Carly didn't say anything at first "Okay.. That's in the past, So..." she trailed off, she had told Sam it was in the past but she resolved to talk to Spencer about him being in contact with Sam all these years. She looked at her phone and sighed "It's almost 4 now" she said as she put her phone into her pocket. "I have to go get dinner ready" she said, "Do you wanna come over for dinner?" she asked "Give us a better chance to catch up"

Sam shook her head "Nah.. I think we need to catch up a little more before we're coming over to each other's houses" she said.

Carly nodded and looked surprised "Since when were you the sensible one?" she asked.

Sam shrugged "I've grown up Carls, I'm not the little demon I was., well at least not totally" she said with a smirk, "I still fight as well as I ever did"

Carly got up and yawned a bit "how about we meet at Starbucks tomorrow for Coffee? Exchange stories, catch up... You know"

Sam nodded "That sounds like a good idea" she said, "Do we bring the kids?"

Carly sighed "Um, I've left Freddie alone before so... I think he'll be alright if I go out for Coffee, or he can go to Spencer's."

"You named him Freddie?" she asked, a look of understanding on her face, "I think he would have liked that... My daughter's name is Carly"

Carly smiled "That's ironic really" she said "you realize we were set up right?"

Sam nodded "Of course, it wasn't chance we were both at the mall, going to the pear store." she said softly "Every Freddie Benson needs his Carly" she said dryly.

Carly blushed softly and shook her head "Don't even start, they're only thirteen too young for that"

"He was eleven when he started chasing you" Sam reminded her.

"I know... And look what happened" she retorted

Sam sighed "point taken, now let's go find our kids, shall we?"

Carly nodded and looked around "I'll check the video game and movie store, you check the comic book store."

Sam rolled her eyes "Nerd central" she complained.

"Freddie's just like his Dad" she said, a certain amount of pride entering her voice before she headed to the comic store to see if her son and Sam's daughter were there.

Freddie Jr. looked over at Carly and smiled as they browsed the movie store, they'd skipped the video game store because he couldn't afford anything in there, and walked over to her "What's that?" he asked.

"Oh some show, Girly Cow or something, my Mom used to talk about it" she said, "I was considering buying it to watch it"

Freddie shrugged "If you got the money for it what's the harm in it?"

Carly nodded "Point taken" she said walking up to the desk to check out. Freddie watched her for a moment before looking at his watch, knowing his mother would want to fix dinner soon followed Carly up to the counter.

Carly looked back and smirked "What's wrong? Miss me too much?" she asked playfully.

Freddie rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, and didn't say anything. Carly's smirk turned to a warm smile and she looked away as her face again turned pink, though a brighter shade of pink, as she realized he hadn't said no.

Finally he heard his name being called and he looked up as his mother waved him to him. "Hey Carly, come on" he said, nudging her gently, and walked towards his mother "Dinner time?" he asked curiously "I'm starving"

"Yeah, do you wanna eat out or go home and I can fix dinner?" she asked Freddie.

"Um.. go out and eat, I want a hamburger" he said "with extra Ketchup." Both Carly's looked disgusted at the idea but before they could say anything he spoke up "Can Carly come eat with us Mom?"

Carly looked at him for a moment, obviously surprised at the question, before looking at the younger Carly "If her Mom says it's okay then she can."

Freddie and the younger Carly shared a look that the older Carly remembered all too well and she shook her head, wondering if Sam had been right. "C'mon love birds" she said, smirking as they both looked away in embarrassment.

They found Sam by the comic book store, obviously waiting for them, and she smiled "I see you found em" she said.

The older Carly nodded "They were at the movie store" she said.

"I found that show you were talking about Mom" The younger Carly said to Sam, "Girly Cow." Sam looked at it and grinned, looking like a child for a moment, while the older Carly rolled her eyes.

"Anyway" the older Carly began, "Would it be okay if Carly had dinner with us?" she asked. "Freddie seems to be rather attached to his new friend" her tone went from normal to amused as she glanced at the two teenagers.

Sam nodded knowingly "of course um.. Carly you'll tell them how to get to our house?" she asked.

The younger Carly nodded "of course" she said, "I've gone with friends before" she reminded her mother.

Sam raised her hands in surrender and shook her head "Well, then I guess I'll see you guys later, it was nice meeting you Freddie.. See you Carls" she said, looking at the older Carly.

"I'll see you tomorrow Sam" she said softly with a smile.

The two Carly's and Freddie headed to her car and Freddie glanced at the younger Carly "I wonder what our Mom's are doing tomorrow" he mouthed.

Carly glanced at him and shrugged in response. For dinner they decided on McDonald's and Carly got the Chicken nugget while Freddie and the younger Carly got cheeseburgers. "I love meat" the younger Carly muttered loud enough for the older Carly to hear.

"Just like your Mom" the older Carly teased and smiled softly. Freddie glanced at his Mom and Carly and shook his head. "What?" his Mom asked, sounding amused "Trust me, I know Sam and you are just like her" Carly said, looking at the younger Carly.

They ate mostly in silence after that, the younger Carly and Freddie chatted about school and homework assignments they had due on Monday while the older Carly pretended not to listen. After they all finished the older Carly ushered them to the car and stopped at Freezie Queen for Ice Cream. As they drove she turned back to look at the younger Carly and smiled "So where do you live?" she asked.

"Oh right!" the younger Carly said as she finished her choclate ice cream cone, "Take a right here" she instructed. It took about 15 minutes to get to Sam's house, the clock read 6:00 when they finally pulled up to the house and Freddie glanced at Carly "See you tomorrow?"

As the younger Carly climbed out of the car she nodded "Maybe, text me" she said as she headed into her house.

Once they were alone his Mom looked up at her "I think she likes you" she teased.

Freddie squirmed in his seat "Mom!" he said.

Carly let out a small giggle as she teased her son "I'm just teasing, how about we go home and watch a movie or two, have some popcorn.. Then I'm going to bed, today has been exhausting"

Freddie nodded "Sounds good" he said excitedly, he still loved spending time with his Mom even though he was entering his teens.

As Carly drove she tapped her thumbs on the wheel nervously, dreading and looking forward to tomorrow "Please let it go okay" she muttered as they headed home

**Note:** Thanks as always to dg31 for beta reading this and correcting my errors. Thanks to MixItUp, Cutesy Bunny, Cajunhost, bellaculen445. And SirRay for leaving me reviews. As always I don't own anything in this story, etc. Please leave me more reviews!


	6. iRevive

_Freddie Jr. looked up at his Dad, Freddie Sr., and smiled "Wanna go on the swings Dad?" he asked excitedly as he, his Mom, and his Dad walked through the park on their way to their favorite hill to have a picnic. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day in Seattle, Freddie Jr. loved days like these when he and his Mom and Dad would come out here together._

"_We will" his Dad promised, "But I wanna eat first... I'm Starving." Freddie nodded and smirked as he caught his Mom roll her eyes and smile lovingly at Freddie Sr._

"_Alright!" he said grinning, "Is Kurt coming?" he asked curiously._

"_Not today" Carly said, "This is just a Benson Family picnic" They finally reached the top of the hill and she set one of the picnic baskets down, her silver wedding ring reflecting the sunlight into her husband's eyes._

"_Carls!" he complained as he dramatically covered his eyes._

"_Sorry!" she said but giggled, "This is what you get for buying a metal ring."_

_He walked up to her and smirked "I didn't hear you complaining when I proposed" he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist._

_She looked up at him and bit her lip "Who says I'm complaining Mr. Benson?" she asked._

"_Sounded like it to me Mrs. Benson" he replied, kissing her softly._

_She placed her hand on his cheek as they kissed and Freddie looked away, he hated watching their parents make out, and his attention was caught by a blonde girl sitting beside a tree. "Carly" he muttered softly, his parent's not hearing him, How did he know that name? He knew it was his Mom's name but he had never met anyone else named Carly._

_The girl looked about his age, her long blonde hair flowed past her shoulders, she was definitely beautiful. He felt his cheeks heat up at the thought and he looked away, just as the clouds began to darken, when he looked back up the girl was gone._

_He heard a scream and looked around frantically, his Dad was holding his Mom tightly and a man was holding a gun, he looked like a monster with his dirty beard, wild eyes, and ruined clothes. "Please" Freddie Sr. said, "There's no need to do anything drasti-"_

"_Shut up!" the man said and for a moment Freddie thought he heard panic in the man's voice but shook his head, the man was holding a gun to his parent's head! It didn't matter if he sounded panicked, he needed to be stopped._

_The older Freddie continued to try and reason with him and then there was a loud BANG and Freddie couldn't tell who screamed louder, him or his Mom. The shooter ran for it when he realized what he'd done and Freddie dashed to his father's side._

"_I'm so sorry" the younger Freddie whispered, tears coming out "I was a coward and.." he realized it was too late as his Dad wasn't breathing anymore.._

Freddie jolted awake, biting back a scream, and looked around. He was safe in his room "A nightmare" he muttered as he slipped out of bed and headed out of his room, across the hall, and into the small bathroom that he claimed as his own. He flipped on the light switch and shut the door, he didn't want his Mom to wake up, and looked at himself in the mirror.

He had his Mom's hair and his father's eyes, or so his Mom had told him, his hair was starting to get a bit long and he wondered if he should go for a haircut after school Monday. He turned on the faucet and watched as the water began to pour out and for a moment he could hear his Mother's scream and he shivered. Even though it had been a dream he'd never quite heard a scream like that, it had been pure despair and he had to wonder if his Mom had screamed like that when he'd died.

He shook his head again "Stop it Freddie" he muttered angrily, he hated these morbid thoughts that seemed to invade his brain like a virus. He cupped his hands under the water and sighed as the cold water filled up in his hand, he splashed it in his face and jumped as the ice cold water made contact with his face.

He walked back to his room quietly and shut the door, careful not to wake his Mom up, and looked at the clock which read 5:45. "Great" he muttered as he turned on his light and walked over to the box he'd hidden in his closet last night after his Mom had went to bed. He tugged out the box and looked at the DVD-R's, each marked with iCarly, and smirked. He hadn't planned to take these, but the curiosity was driving him nuts so he'd snuck back up and got them.

He grabbed the first DVD on the pile, his portable DVD player, and sat down on his bed. He slid the DVD into the player and smiled as he adjusted the volume; the first person to appear on screen was a young brunette girl that he could only assume was his Mother.

"I'm Carly!" the girl said excitedly, confirming his suspicions, and then a blonde girl that reminded him of his friend Carly appeared.

"And I'm Sam" the blonde said, practically shoving her face into the camera.

"Stop it Sam!" came a voice that made Freddie's heart stop and he leaned over to grab his ear buds, plugging them in and turning the volume up all the way as he heard his father speak again.

"Make me nub" the blonde replied.

Freddie stared intently at his Mom, who watched the two fight for a moment before interrupting. "Anyway" she said loudly "We have a great show for you today."

Freddie began ignoring what they were saying, picking up just bits and pieces here and there, and began focusing on his Mom and Dad.

"Freddie" came a voice off camera and Freddie whipped around to look at Sam "Stop focusing so much on Carly? She will never love you!"

Freddie 's heart sank, much like he figured his Dad's was right now, and he heard "Sam!" from off camera and smiled as his Mom walked on screen "Don't listen to her Freddie" she said and suddenly there was an awkward moment where everyone was quiet.

Freddie looked at his Mom, even though she was on screen, and hit pause "Were you in love with him even then?" he muttered and shook his head as he sat up, it seemed like every time he went looking for answers three more questions popped up. He quietly snuck out of his room and headed downstairs for a drink. He opened the fridge and grabbed an iced coffee, one of his favorite drinks even though his mom hated it, and went back upstairs.

He spent the rest of the morning watching old iCarly DVD's and looked up when his door opened.

"You're awake?" his Mom asked as he quickly hit pause and closed the DVD player, he wasn't sure why but he didn't want her to know what he'd been watching yet.

"Yeah" he said with a shrug, "I just um, couldn't sleep" he said.

She nodded "What were you watching?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, Galaxy Wars" he lied, "I've seen it so many times I can quote the lines"

She rolled her eyes "like Father like Son" she said with a sigh, "I'm going to put on some coffee" she said, "Warm Coffee" she added as she noticed the iced coffee he insisted on having, "Then I'm gonna get ready to meet Sam at the coffee shop, you sure you'll be okay while I'm gone?"

It was his turn to roll his eyes "I'll be fine" he said, "I might invite Carly over while you're out."

She hesitated for a moment, as if she were about to tell him no girls over while she wasn't around, but nodded slowly "Alright" she said, "Have fun."

"You too Mom" he said smiling softly. She closed his door as she left and he could hear her going downstairs. "Guess I need to get ready for the day" he muttered as he tossed the empty can in his trash can. It took him around 20 minutes to shower, get dressed, and make some breakfast in the microwave.

As he finished his meal, breakfast leftovers from yesterday, and tossed the paper plate in the trash. He headed back upstairs and noticed he'd gotten some food on his shirt "Darn it" he grumbled as he slipped out his shirt, replacing the red t-shirt for a black one that went better with his black jeans better. He brushed his brunette hair again, making sure it stayed out his face, and sighed as he pulled out his phone "Hope she's home" he muttered as he sent Carly a text inviting her over.

For a second his nightmare came back to him, why had she been in it? Why had he found her beautiful? He had to admit she was pretty and.. "Stop it" he muttered to himself as his phone rang, "She's your friend, that's all there is to it." He pulled out his phone and smiled as he read the text, Carly was on her way, and for some odd reason his heart was beating faster than normal.

Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door and he raced to answer it. He smiled as he saw Carly who studied him for a second, "Eager to see me?" she asked playfully.

He took a deep breath and smirked "Oh you know" he said and turned around, the door swinging open "Come on, I got something to show you" he said, missing the wide smile and slight blush on Carly's face.

He stopped to look at her again, as if he were studying her, she was dressed in Blue jeans and a white t- shirt, her hair was long and blonde like he'd seen her mother wear when she was a teenager but instead of keeping it down she had it tied up in a ponytail.

She looked up at him and smirked "Take a picture, it lasts longer" she said but her tone suggested she didn't really mine he was looking at her.

"Maybe I will" he replied with a soft smile "C'mon" he said, "You're going to love this." he said.

She shook her head and followed him, curious as to what had him so excited.

Sam looked down at her watch, Carly was late which was unlike her, and ordered another Coffee. She practically lived off the stuff now, had for years. She looked at her phone and sighed at her reflection, she'd cut off her long blonde hair and kept it shoulder length, she'd considered dyeing it but had been talked out of it. She'd dressed casually, jeans and a blue T-shirt, she wore tennis shoes just like she had as a kid.

She looked up and nearly jumped when she noticed Carly sitting down "Been here long Cupcake?" she asked dryly.

"Oh, just long enough to see you staring at yourself, I never imagined you being self-conscious." She said with a slight giggle that made Sam smile.

"I'm not" Sam said with a smile, "I was just thinking I'm getting old."

"We're old" Carly said gravely "We have teenage kids, we're old."

"Did you ever imagine it?" Sam asked softly, "That we'd be here, right now.. Like this?"

Carly shook her head, "I thought the trio would last forever" she said softly.

Sam looked down "So, tell me about what's new" she said, "What have I missed?"

Carly sighed and ordered a cup of coffee "Not a lot, when Freddie died.. Then I found out I was pregnant, I settled down, I became a news anchor because of how similar it was to what we did with iCarly, just more serious"

Sam nodded, "That's it? No real boyfriends or anything?"

Carly shook her head "Guys hit on me, they still do.. But I can't, I mean it's not even that I feel like I'm betraying him" she said, "Just no one compares to him anymore" she said.

Sam's eyes showed sympathy but she didn't say anything "W..Wow, That's.. I didn't know anyone still loved each other like that"

Carly sighed "It's weird, no one else seems to but.. I just, I know I need to move on, but I can't"

Sam reached over and put a hand on Carly's shoulder "I'm here now.. It's okay" she said, "I'm here to help."

Carly nodded and shook her head "I'm fine" she said, "Anyway.. Tell me about what you've been up to"

Sam nodded and looked down at her cup, organizing her thoughts, and sighed "Well, when I left I didn't really know where to go" she admitted, "I ended up going to New York and applying to a few colleges, not that many would accept me with my grades"

Carly smirked "Told ya" she interrupted.

Sam waved her away and smiled "I know" she said, "Let me just tell you, every time a college rejected me I thought of you" she told her, "I got into a community college, started studying journalism because I knew I would make a good news anchor after iCarly... Let's face it cupcake, I was limited on career choices"

Carly nodded, sipping her coffee, and motioned for her to continue as she set her coffee cup down "How did you do?" she finally asked.

Sam shrugged and sat back in her chair "I did okay, I mean I'm not a great writer but I can deliver news well so that helped a lot." She paused, not sure where to go from there, "During my second semester I met a guy.. Great guy" she said softy, though Carly could hear the sadness in her tone.

Carly nodded "Is he...?" she trailed off as Sam nodded.

"Yeah he um.. He was cute, charming, and just a really great guy" she said with a sigh, "we got along great..." She paused for a moment and looked down, she hadn't really told anyone this story and it hurt to relive it, "When I found out Freddie died I- I was devastated" she said, "I turned to David, That was his name, David was there for me"

She smiled "When I found out I was pregnant he told me he wasn't ready to be a Dad and that was the last I've heard from in in thirteen years"

Carly nodded "Being a single parent is hard" she said, ""How long were you together?" she asked curiously.

"About a year or so" she said, "I had just graduated from college when I found out I was pregnant."

She nodded, "When I found out about Freddie I almost considered an abortion but... He was Freddie's, the only real connection to Freddie I had... Have left"

Sam nodded "Do you ever regret it?" she asked curiously.

Carly smiled "Never." she replied.

Sam nodded "Me either" she said and finished her coffee "I'm hungry.." she muttered, "Wanna grab some lunch?"

Carly nodded, "It's on you though, you owe me for all the years you lived off Spencer and I" she teased .

Sam rolled her eyes "Fine, but I want Ham" she said with a childlike pout.

It was Carly's turn to roll her eyes "Some things never change" she said with a warm smile.

"You're right about that Cupcake" Sam replied with a grin, "Now let's eat!"

Carly rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the feeling that maybe she'd gone to fast, perhaps she shouldn't have just forgiven Sam so quickly. She stood up and stretched "C'mon" she said, "They opened up a nice little place down the street... It has Ham"

Sam followed after Carly eagerly, wondering if maybe Carly forgiving her was to good to be true, and grinned "I haven't had Ham in.. a week" she said, trying to make conversation.

"A new record" Carly teased with a smirk.

"You know it" she replied, still feeling uneasy, it was as if they were walking on ice and she hated it but she also realized there was nothing she could do but show Carly she could trust her again.

They arrived at the little Diner Carly had mentioned and she smiled "Try not order everything on the menu?" she teased.

Sam just rolled her eyes and walked in. Carly followed after with a slight giggle, though the uneasy feeling was still there, and they sat down to eat.

Freddie looked up from the DVD player and smirked at Carly "What do you think?" he asked curiously.

"T-That was our parents?" she asked curiously, "My mom was so..."

"Mean" Freddie finished for her, "I mean... All teenagers are"

Carly shook her head "Maybe but... No one should be treated like that; my Mom isn't like that anymore anyways."

Whatever Freddie was going to say was cut off by Kurt appearing in the doorway "Hey bro!" he said with a grin.

"Hey Kurt!" Freddie said happily as they shook hands and bumped fists, like they usually did when they hung out, "I thought you wouldn't be back until this evening?"

Kurt shrugged "I wasn't needed anymore, so I came back... How've you been bro?"

"Oh man have I got stuff to show you" he said with a smirk and looked up as Carly headed out of his room, "Give me just a second, okay?"

Kurt looked confused but nodded "Um.. Sure" he said as Freddie ran out of the room.

Freddie headed down the stairs "Carly wait" he said as he grabbed her arm, "Where are you going?"

"I just thought I'd give you and Kurt some alone time.. I mean I was just a replacement wasn't I?" she asked.

Freddie shook his head "You're my friend" he said "Stay, hang out with us, you may even like Kurt"

Carly looked up, almost shyly, a warm smile on her face "Really?" she asked, "I knew you couldn't stand not having me around" she said playfully.

"Totally, my life would suck without you" he retorted.

Carly blushed softly "Thanks Freddie" she whispered, "It means a lot" she said.

"Don't worry about it, C'mon I got an idea" he said, "Let's hope you and Kurt like it"

She nodded and followed him back upstairs, curious to his idea, and let out a soft giggle at the confused look on Kurt's face "What's wrong?" she teased, "Never seen a girl before?"

Kurt laughed "Of course I have" he said, "I've just never seen Freddie go after one"

Freddie glared at Kurt while Carly looked down, another blush tinting her cheeks, and finally Freddie spoke up "Carly and I were watching old videos' of my parent's webshow.. iCarly"

Kurt nodded "Dad had a copy of a few, he showed me" he interrupted.

"Good, that means I don't have to catch you up" he said with a smirk, "I think we should restart it."

Carly and Kurt looked up "Restart it?" he asked curiously.

"How would we even begin?" Carly asked.

"Easy, we talk to Mom, since she hosted it as a kid, I think it's only fair that a Carly be the main host this time." he replied

"M-Me" She squeaked, "Why me?"

"Like I said, it's iCarly.. it's only natural that a Carly is the host, don't worry" he said, his tone becoming reassuring, "I'll be there to help you out." He looked up at Kurt "I need you to work the Camera's and such, You're better at it than I am"

Kurt laughed "That is true" he said, "Which is weird, because you know pretty much everything else about computers."

Freddie shrugged "I'm more interested in fixing them, not in A.V programs"

"So, we talk to your Mom.. and start up iCarly?" Kurt asked.

Freddie nodded "Yeah.. That's the idea" he said.

"I'm in" Kurt said with a shrug, "Might as well continue the legacy."

Carly nodded "I'll help.. I mean, I'd love to help continue what our parent's started"

Kurt looked at Freddie "What about Miranda?" he asked, "Shouldn't we include her? I mean... Spencer was part of iCarly."

"Who's Miranda?" Carly asked, trying to ignore the small pang of jealousy at the idea that Freddie might have another girl friend.

"My cousin" Freddie explained, not noticing Carly sigh in relief "We'll ask her if she'd like to appear on our show" he said, "I'm sure she won't say no to you" he teased with a grin

Kurt looked down, a pleased smile on his face, "I hope not" he muttered.

"Alright, let's meet up tomorrow, here, and get this started" he said, "But for now.. I have homework to do."

Kurt and Carly nodded "I do too" she said with a groan "I forgot about the math test tomorrow." She headed for the door and smiled "see you tomorrow Freddie"

Kurt followed after her "Math test? What Math test?" he asked, a panic to his voice as they headed downstairs.

Freddie plopped down on his bed, suddenly exhausted, and began to wonder if this was such a good idea as sleep consumed him.

**Note: **Wow this was a long chapter, I hope I answered a few questions and left you wondering a few more! If you have anything you'd like to see in this story don't hesitate to leave say so in a review! Also please tell me if you like the way this story is going, I love a good/bad/neutral reviews! As always I don't own iCarly or anything related to it.


	7. iBond

Carly walked in shut the door quietly; her dinner with Sam had lasted longer than she thought and she hadn't ended up leaving until after dark. Glancing at the clock on the oven she frowned at the green digital numbers that read 10:30 "I suppose time does fly when you're having fun" she muttered and flipped on the light switch. She felt bad for staying out so late; she had meant to spend a little time with Freddie before he went to bed. "Is tomorrow really Monday?" she asked herself.

She sat down at the table and let her thoughts catch up with her; she had her best friend back... But yet something was nagging at her, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach "Stop it Carly" she ordered herself "You're just bitter and can't accept that things are finally going right for you." She paused and threw up her hands "Great, now I'm talking to myself." she said.

Deciding it was time for bed before she did anything else insane she got up and headed to bed, her mind wandering back to her childhood again. She had been focusing on the past a lot today, especially considering that's what she and Sam had talked about for most of the time.

She grabbed a glass off the counter and turned on the sink, watching the water flow out of the faucet like a water fall, and filled her glass half full. She brought the glass up to her mouth and let the water pour down her throat, she drank the entire glass in one drink and sighed in relief "Okay, now bed time" she muttered as she walked back over, turned off the light, and headed upstairs.

She walked as quietly as she could, hoping not to wake Freddie, and froze as she saw a light coming from his room _Is he still awake? _ She thought and poked her head into his room. Her heart stopped at the sight in front of her, he was fast asleep and the small portable DVD player she had gotten for him last year was playing an old episode of iCarly "How did he find these?" She mumbled.

She picked up the DVD player and watched her younger self and Sam start dancing crazily "Random Dancing" she muttered fondly. Freddie's voice came on and she almost dropped the DVD player, biting her lip she placed the portable player back on the bed and headed to bed.

The next morning Freddie's eyes opened as an alarm went off and rolled over to look at his clock; the red digital clock read five forty-five, and groaned as he realized it was his Mom's alarm, not his, that was ringing. He closed his eyes and turned over, trying to go back to sleep but to no avail, "Darn it." he grumbled. He was careful not to kick the portable player as he slipped out of bed and stretched.

After getting dressed he headed downstairs and snuck up on his Mom "Boo!" he said with a grin.

Carly, who wasn't used to Freddie waking up with her, jumped "Freddie!" she shrieked, "What are you doing up?"

He shrugged "I don't know. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep." he said with a shrug. He didn't bother mentioning that her alarm had woken him up because it wasn't important.

"Well, I'm fixing myself an egg sandwich for breakfast." she said as she flipped the egg in the skillet, "You want one?" she asked.

"Sure" He said, "Did you have fun with Sam?" he asked curiously.

Carly looked over her shoulder at her son and Freddie could tell something was different about her; she looked like a heavy weight had been lifted from her and finally she spoke "Yeah... I had fun." She said.

Freddie grinned "That's great!" he said, "You deserve a little fun."

Carly put the egg on a piece of bread, sprinkled salt and pepper on it, put some cheese on it, and slid it over to him on a paper plate "I guess" she said, still not sure why she was telling her son this, "It felt right to go out and have some fun."

"Oh, I'm going over to Miranda's house with Kurt today." he said.

Carly began fixing another egg for her sandwich and nodded "Alright." she said, "When will you be home?"

Freddie opened his mouth to tell her what his plan was, to restart the very webshow she and her friends had created, but something held him back and instead he said "I don't know but we shouldn't be very long."

"Then I will see you when we both get home." she said. She flipped her egg onto the piece of bread and put the same things on hers. When she bit into the egg the yellow yolk ran through the bread and soaked into the plate.

"Gross" he said, watching as the bread became a mop for the eggs yolk, "How do you eat that?"

"I grab it in my hands, bring it up to my lips, and put it in my mouth." she said.

Freddie snickered and she glared at him, "Get your mind out of the gutter." she said.

"I didn't say anything" he said with an innocent smile, "Just a funny thought."

"Uh huh, sure" she said, "I was thirteen once, and I know how thirteen year olds think."

"I highly doubt you know how a thirteen year old guy thinks" he said, trying to hold back a laugh, "you're a girl."

"That may be true, but it isn't hard to figure out what a thirteen year old is thinking." she reminded him before she glimpsed at the clock "Shoot, I need to get ready for work. See you tonight Freddie!" she said as she ran upstairs.

Freddie sighed as he bit into his sandwich, "See you later Mom" he mumbled. After she was gone he ran upstairs and got dressed, slipping into his blue jeans and a red t shirt

While Freddie and his Mom were talking Kurt was just waking up, his alarm had went off, and he knew his Dad was getting ready to go to work,. He knew from stories that his Dad had grown up a lot since high school and while he was still sometimes strange he had a good job at his own diner

Kurt raced downstairs, he liked to wake up every morning to eat breakfast with his Dad, "Hey Dad" he said, "What're we having today?"

"Um, not really sure." Gibby said, "I thought I was making an omelet, but I ended up making bacon."

Kurt rolled his eyes "BLT's then?" he asked.

"Sure" Gibby said, "Wish I had thought about that."

Kurt swallowed a laugh and walked over to the toaster and put in four slices of bread into the toaster, "Should I wake up Mom?" he asked.

"Nah don't worry about it, she just got home remember?" Gibby said.

Tasha, Kurt's mom, was a model and often went around the world for photo shoots, last week she had been in Germany for some German magazine.

"Right, I did forget." he said with a soft sigh, he hated that his mom traveled so much but she seemed happy so he didn't complain, "Oh, I almost forgot, Freddie and I are hanging with his cousin after school."

"Okay" Gibby said as he put the bacon on the bread, three strips each, and then put a piece of lettuce and tomato, then spread Mayonnaise over the other slice of bread. He repeated this process with the other two slices of bread and slid a plate over to Kurt "Eat up, do you need lunch money?" he asked.

"No, I'm gonna make a lunch before I go to school." He replied and took a bite of his sandwich and grinned, the bacon was nuked until it was crispy just the way he liked it, "Good job on the bacon."

"Thanks." he said, "Did you enjoy your time away this weekend?" Gibby asked.

"Yeah actually, but I missed home." Kurt admitted.

Gibby started to say something but noticed the time, "Shoot, I'm late." he said with a frown, "We'll continue this talk tomorrow, sound good?"

Kurt bit back a frown; his Dad would be working all day so he wouldn't see him until tomorrow morning when they would do this all over again, "Sounds good Dad." he said, careful to keep his voice neutral.

Gibby either didn't notice or pretended, Kurt bet on the latter, and walked out the door. He ran upstairs to get dressed, he focused on the talk he knew he would have with Freddie later. When his father left Kurt ran upstairs and got dressed in a plain black t-shirt and khaki shorts

Carly Puckett was fixing breakfast; her mom hadn't woken her up this morning so she was fixing her own breakfast. Sam wasn't that great of a cook anyway so she ended up doing most of the cooking. She had actually started to enjoy cooking and had thought about trying to go to school for culinary arts.

She fixed herself hash browns she'd found in the freezer, leftover ham, and popped in some toast. She had woken up early to fix herself breakfast, she liked making nice meals like this, after breakfast she headed upstairs and to get dressed in a simple white t-shirt and white c_apris._

_T_he three of them met at school, Kurt and Carly sharing small waves while Kurt and Freddie shook hands and Freddie and Carly said an overly happy Hello. Freddie didn't have to ask to know something was bothering him, and he resolved to talk to his best friend later. "So, Kurt, ask her yet?" he asked.

"How would I have asked her? I haven't seen her yet." he reminded him.

"Alright alright" Freddie said, "I'm just nervous... What if we're not as good as our parents?"

It was Carly, not Kurt, who spoke up "We'll be fine; we can be just as funny as they were."

Just then Miranda walked up and put her arm on Kurt's shoulder and whispered something in his ear which brought a shy smile to his lips and he turned to look at her.

Freddie cleared his throat, knowing nothing would get done while those two flirted with each other "So Miranda" he began, "We're restarting our parent's webshow and we want you to be a part of it."

Miranda looked up at him and smiled, "Well sure... I mean, where would we film it though?"

"Oh, at your house." This time Kurt spoke up, "None of our houses has a room for it like yours does."

Miranda frowned at Freddie then looked over at Kurt, her frown turning into a smile, "Well.. How can I say no to that?" she said, "I'll clear it with my parents, when are we doing the first show?"

Freddie shrugged, "I need to talk to my Mom... Someone has to pay for the site, plus we need to plan out some ideas."

"What're we gonna call it?" she asked.

"iCarly." the trio said without hesitation.

"iCarly?" She repeated, "Why name it iCarly... Also, who's the blonde ?"'

Freddie began to get impatient; he couldn't believe he hadn't told Miranda about Carly, "This is Carly Puckett... She's new here so be nice."

Miranda stuck out her hand and smiled, "It's nice to meet you." she said,

Carly hesitated, she didn't make friends with many girls, and finally took the offered hand and shook it "It's nice to meet you too... Miranda right?"

The brunette girl nodded "Miranda, I'm Freddie's cousin."

"Oh right! He told me about you." she said, "But not much I'm afraid."

Miranda glared at Freddie for a moment before turning back to Carly "He's still mad at me for setting his phone on fire."

Carly looked at her in surprise, trying not to giggle, "How did you... Set his phone on fire?" she asked.

"I was using it and it went up in flames, it happens." She explained as if it were a normal occurrence.

"Right... I'm gonna go to class now." Carly said slowly before turning around and heading to class.

Freddie sighed "you scared her Miranda" he told his cousin.

"Did not!" She protested

"Did too!" he repeated.

"Whatever" she shrugged, knowing better to get into an argument with him, "I'm gonna be late for class too."

Kurt and Freddie watched as Miranda walked away and then Kurt turned to his best friend "My Dad is getting... I don't know, stranger."

Freddie opened his locker to get some books for first period "What do you mean?" he asked, shifting through his books and papers.

"Today he said he was making Omelets but it ended up as Bacon." Kurt said, "I know this is just jumping to conclusions, but I wonder if my parents are having issues."

"What gives you that idea?" he asked curiously.

He shrugged, "I don't know… when they're together things just seem... Cold" he said, "My Mom is always gone and Dad is always working and on the one or two family dinners we have there's just awkward silences."

Freddie shut his locker and turned to look at Kurt "I'm sorry bro." he said, "If you need to talk... Or a place to stay you know you're more than welcome."

Kurt smiled, "Thanks bro... I appreciate it."

Freddie waved it off, "That's what friends do."

The bell rang and the two friends dashed off to class.

The day went by slowly for Freddie, he and Kurt had only two classes together this year and Freddie missed sitting next to his best friend, finally the final bell rang and the trio met at Freddie's locker

"Sup bro?" Kurt asked as he and Freddie high-fived each other.

"Homework, drowning in homework" Freddie groaned, "How do they expect us to do all this?"

Carly walked up and smirked, "It's not that much boys" she said, "You just gotta stop playing those dorky video games."

"They're not dorky" Freddie and Kurt protested, "They're awesome!"

Carly stared at both of them "Wow, Synchronized nerds" she said, "I'm impressed."

"We try" they replied as they shut their lockers.

"Want to hang out at my place?" Freddie asked Carly and Kurt.

"Sure, I don't have anything better to do." Kurt told him while Carly just nodded.

"Sweet... Oh shoot, I told Mom I was going over to Miranda's house with you" Freddie said, laying his head against his locker, "Want to go over there?"

Carly shook her head "Your cousin scares me" she said.

Freddie bit back a laugh, "We'll just tell her there was a change of plans, no big deal" he said.

"Are you sure?" Carly asked, "I mean... I don't wanna impose."

"Kurt, do you mind?" he asked, "I mean... Going to my house instead of Miranda's?"

Kurt pretended to think about it, "Course not" he said.

The three of them walked to Freddie house and headed up to his room.

"Can we watch some more of that iCarly?" Carly asked curiously.

"Sure, let's watch it downstairs" he said, "Better T.V and DVD player"

He grabbed a handful of the discs and headed down stairs with his friends. He put the first one in the player and sat in between Kurt and Carly on the couch. The disc started to play and there on the screen were Freddie Sr. and Sam talking "Where's Mom?" Freddie muttered.

"Our parents, working together?" Carly muttered, obviously shocked considering how she had treated him in the other episode she had watched.

Freddie watched the images of his Father intently, he wasn't funny in the least but he felt like this was the closest he would ever be to his father.

Carly glanced over at him, knowing what this must mean to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. Freddie looked over at her and smiled softly, not saying a word, but quickly turned his attention back to the television.

Kurt glanced at the two and smiled "Hey lovebirds" he teased, "Get a room."

Freddie glanced at him so only Kurt could see the blush that had appeared on Carly's face and smiled knowingly at her. She looked away just as Freddie turned his head to look at her. "I'm going to get drinks" he announced, breaking the silence, "Anyone want anything?"

"Soda" Carly and Kurt replied.

When Freddie left Kurt turned to Carly and smirked, "You like him don't you?" he asked.

Carly turned her head so fast Kurt thought it was going to fall off "What makes you say that?" she asked, her tone nervous.

"I see the way you look at him" he said, "Don't worry... I don't plan to interfere but I think you'd be good for him" he said.

"Really?" she asked and Kurt could have sworn he had heard a twinge of excitement in her voice.

"I've known him since we were kids" he said, "Trust me, you two would be good together."

"I just... I don't think he likes me like that." she said shyly.

"Let him get to know you." he said, "He's afraid to get close to people, trust me... It took me about seven years to get him to trust me."

"Seven years?" Carly asked "That's a long time..." she muttered, sounding discouraged.

"Maybe it was" he said, "But it was worth it, he's a great friend and an amazing guy."

She opened her mouth to speak but noticed Freddie coming back and shut her mouth again. The trio spent the next few hours watching iCarly until Carly Shay walked in and cleared her throat "Having fun?" she asked curiously.

Freddie jumped and spun around to look at his Mom "Y-yes?" he said, though it sounded more like a question.

"I see you discovered my childhood" the elder Carly said, sounding amused.

"Actually Mom... We wanted to talk to you." Freddie said, standing up to look at his Mom, "We want to restart iCarly."

Carly's face showed her shock "Restart the webshow?" she asked "I don't know..." she trailed off. "Let me think about it, okay?"

"That's fair" Kurt said, jumping off the couch, "Don't you think that's fair?"

"Yeah... Fair" Freddie muttered and looked down at his watch, "Oh shoot, It's late... I need to get my homework done for tomorrow."

Mutters of "me too" came from the younger Carly and Kurt as they headed to the door.

"See you tomorrow" Carly said with a wave as she left.

"See you tomorrow bro" Kurt said with a grin and a mock salute.

After they left Carly looked at him, "Where did you find those?" she asked curiously.

"Well, the day after you told me what really happened to Dad Carly and I decided to explore and I thought of the attic, so we went through it and I found an old photo album of you, Dad, and Sam. I also found that box of DVD's and went back later for them to watch, I've been watching them at night lately... They help me go to sleep." He explained.

Carly listened intently, "I promise I'd think about it and I will" she said with a smile "I think in a way iCarly would be good for you, and no one is better to revive iCarly then the kids of the original gang." She said.

Freddie grinned "Thanks Mom, I really do have homework." he said and ran upstairs.

Carly rolled her eyes "Is Pizza for dinner okay? I don't feel like cooking."

"Sure!" Freddie replied from his room.

Carly's day at work had been hectic, though it was good to have Sam back as a friend, they hadn't gotten to talk much because today had been a busy day for news, a huge pile up on the outskirts of Seattle had been the main source of news, and Carly and Sam had been reporting from the scene of the accident, between reporting updates, doing interviews, and competing with other news stations for footage they had quickly been tired out.

They did, however, have enough time to plan dinner plans for the weekend at Carly's house. She placed a hand on her stomach in hopes to make the uneasy feeling go away, she didn't know why but when she thought about her and Sam she felt uneasy, like there was something bad coming, but wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not.

She grabbed her cellphone and dialed the pizza place; she had them in her contacts because they ate out a lot, and ordered two large Pizzas, one supreme and one pepperoni. Twenty minutes later the food arrived and she called Freddie down for dinner.

When they sat down for dinner Carly looked at her son "I've thought about what we talked about earlier" she said and took a bite of Pizza.

He looked up at her, a piece of cheese dangling from his mouth, "And?" he asked.

"You guys can start up iCarly again... I think it would be fitting for you to restart it" she said, "It's your inheritance in a way."

Freddie grinned and swallowed the piece of Pizza in his mouth "Really? Awesome!" he said with a grin. "We plan to go over to Uncle Spencer's tomorrow and ask him if we can use the spare room in his house."

"I think he'd like that. You should ask him if he wants to appear once and awhile, he did that when we did iCarly." She said.

"We're still kind of working on what kind of stuff we want to do." He said, "We're taking ideas from your show, Kurt's our tech guy and Carly and I are hosting it."

"Well, that makes sense actually" she said, "You and Carly will work well together" she said, "Trust me on that."

Freddie smiled "Thanks Mom." he said.

After dinner Freddie headed upstairs, "Homework." he called.

"Work hard" Carly replied and headed upstairs herself for an early bedtime.

Freddie grinned as he worked on his homework; tomorrow was going to be awesome... He couldn't wait. He pulled out his phone and texted Kurt and Carly, to excited to wait until tomorrow.

**Mom okayed it, iCarly is a go!**

He closed his phone and went back to his work. Finally the phone rang and he flipped it own excitedly.

The first one was from Kurt and simply read **Sweet Bro, Talk to you tomorrow! **

Five minutes later his phone rang again with a text from Carly.

**Sounds fun! Can't wait, talk to you tomorrow?**

Freddie found himself looking forward to that more than starting iCarly and grinned **Of course! You're one of us now!**

He put his phone back down and worked on his Math homework, Math was his worse subject and it took him the longest so he usually worked on it first.

His phone rang again with a text **Thanks Freddie, that means a lot, talk to you tomorrow**

He shut his phone and went back to his homework, which took about another hour, and finally headed to bed around 11:30. He closed his eyes, his imagination running wild about starting up the webshow again, and sleep overtook him.

**Note: **I hope you all didn't think this chapter was to long, I hope the length of the chapters means I'm improving but I leave that up to my readers. Also, I hope you don't think the story is moving to slow, if so I can speed it up a little, please let me know yo_ur opinions in reviews! _


	8. iSucceed

Kurt turned over in his bed and groaned "Five more minutes." he muttered. Finally his eyes snapped open as he realized no one else was in his room, but the noise that had woken him up was coming from downstairs. He slowly rolled out of bed and yawned, _what was going on_?

"You did what?!" He heard his Mother yell.

He couldn't hear his Father's reply but whatever it was didn't seem to help the situation as the yelling got louder and angrier. He contemplated going downstairs but quickly changed his mind when the young man's father began yelling back.

Gibby and Tasha's arguments had been getting worse and worse, plus the fact that the supermodel mother was never home, and their marriage was beginning to crumble. Their son upstairs listened while the married couple continued to argue.

Tasha glared at her husband "You are... There are no words for what you are!"

"What did you expect?" her husband retorted, "You're always one place or another, never here! So yeah I did something dumb, but I swear I didn't mean to."

"Don't lie to me." she snapped, "No one does what you did by accident!" Tasha sighed and quietly spoke "I do love you... But I know this isn't the first time you've cheated on me, and I know it probably won't be the last... I'm filing for divorce."

"W-What?" Gibby asked, feeling a small pain in his chest.

"I'm sorry but... Neither of us are happy in this marriage, but neither of us has been willing to do anything about it until now." She replied calmly.

"How am I supposed to tell Kurt that his mother is leaving us?!" Gibby practically shouted.

"He'll hear you" his soon to be ex-wife snapped angrily.

Kurt fell back on his bed; his heart seemed to stop beating for a moment and he clenched his hands into fists. _Divorce_ He thought numbly _My parents are splitting up. _ He felt anger coursing through his veins, making his blood boil, only to have a chilling wave of sadness pour through him like ice and cool him down.

He flipped open his phone and sent out a text **Meet me on the roof of the school... Please.**

The troubled young man didn't wait for an answer, instead he shut his phone and headed downstairs to pretend like he never heard anything.

Freddie awoke to the phone on his alarm blaring Very Ape by Nirvana, one of his favorite songs, and yawned rather loudly as he got out of bed. He was rather excited about today, and it showed by the huge grin plastered on his face that greeted him in the mirror. He showered and dressed quickly, deciding on a Nirvana T-shirt that he hadn't really worn in the months and a pair of blue jeans.

For breakfast he ate a bowl of cereal, his appetite was low to non-existent this morning, then dashed out of the house to meet up with Kurt. When he got to his best friend's house and knocked on the door a tired looking Gibby answered the door. "Hey Uncle Gibb." Freddie said excitedly, "Is Kurt here?"

"Hey Freddie." Gibby said, "He left about ten minutes ago, didn't say where either, we usually eat breakfast together before he walks with you-"

"To School." Freddie finished for him. "That's weird... I wonder where he went?" When he didn't answer the young man sighed impatiently "Thanks anyway, I'll find him... I know him better than anyone."

Without a word the older man shut the door and a bolt locking was heard _That was... Odd _thought the young Benson boy _I wonder what all that was about._

Just as he was about to text Kurt his phone rang with a text from Carly Puckett **Want to walk to school?** He thought briefly about saying no, he needed to find Kurt, but figured that two heads were better than one. **Sure, but I need your help **He texted back. While he waited for a text back he pulled out his pear player and flipped to Blew by Nirvana. Finally his phone went off asking what he needed help with. **Kurt's not home, and his Dad doesn't know where he is, I need to find him.** He replied.

Carly sent back a text agreeing and where to meet her. Ten minutes later they met up and the blonde girl smiled, "We got a mystery on our hands huh?" she asked playfully.

"Something like that." The dark haired boy replied as he pulled out his ear buds, "Kurt's probably on the roof of the school, we used to hang out there a lot actually."

"Well, lead the way," the young Puckett girl teased, "You're the big strong boy and I'm the weak helpless girl."

Freddie rolled his eyes but smiled, "I've heard what your mother was like, and I'm sure she's taught you a few things."

Carly smiled mischievously and leaned in to whisper in his ear "You have no idea..."

He felt his face heat up as her breath his neck and his legs felt like jelly "Maybe you'll have to show me sometime." he said, somehow managing not to stutter.

The blonde, however, was already starting to walk away and Freddie sprinted to keep up _Girls_ he mentally groaned.

Meanwhile on the school roof Kurt was sitting against the wall by the door into the building and jumped up when the door opened and there stood Miranda, her dark hair shone in the sunlight, and he felt his face heat up "Thanks for coming... You're the first one that popped in my head when I opened my phone." he said sheepishly.

"I was glad you texted me actually, but I'm surprised you didn't text Freddie... He's your best friend." She replied.

"I don't know why I didn't... It just felt right to text you." he admitted.

Miranda bit her lip and blushed softly, her cheeks turning pink "So... What's the matter?"

"When I woke up this morning I heard shouting, which wasn't really unusual because my parents had been arguing for a long time now, but this was different... I think my dad admitted to seeing someone else.." The young Gibson boy paused to let Miranda catch up with him before continuing, "It just seems... I don't know, so random, my father is a good guy... But I've heard that he wasn't always faithful before, I think my Mom finally just had enough and she told him she's filing for divorce."

The words tasted like poison and he had to bite back the urge to spit poison, "I know it's not my fault, but I have to wonder how long she's been unhappy, she's been taking more and more jobs out of the country, and I can't help but think that she's only stuck around this long because of me." His knees began to feel weak and he slumped to the ground.

"I feel... I don't know how I feel to be honest; I just know that I don't like it... I want to scream, cry, kick something... I don't know."

Miranda sunk down to the ground beside him and frowned "I don't know what to say Kurt, I don't have any experience with divorce... But I'm here for you in any way I can be."

He looked up at her, his pain obvious in his eyes, and smiled weakly "Thanks." He shifted uncomfortably but didn't move his eyes away from hers.

Her face got even redder and she leaned in slowly, resting her hand on his cheek. Kurt's hand flew up to hers and he smiled softly, leaning in and pressing his lips against hers in a soft kiss.

The kiss lasted only a moment, and they were spared any awkwardness when Freddie and Carly barged through the doorway. Carly looked confused while Freddie smirked in amusement "I hope we weren't interrupting anything."

Miranda jumped up and ran a hand through her hair "N... No of course not." She stuttered, "I'll talk to you later Kurt." she said and headed through the door.

"Alright... Later." came Kurt's mumbled reply.

"So, alone... On a roof, with my cousin?" came his best friends teasing suspicious voice.

"Nothing happened, we just talked... If you know what I mean." he lied trying to sound normal, "We just talked.." _And kissed _his subconscious decided to mentally add. He could still taste her chap stick on his lips and feel her lips pressed against his.

"You okay?" a voice asked. Suddenly a hand was on his shoulder, jerking him from his thoughts.

He opened his mouth to tell Freddie the truth; after all if he couldn't tell his best friend the truth who could he tell? Then he noticed the blonde behind his best friend and closed his mouth to stop from blabbing. He liked Carly, she seemed liked a perfectly nice girl, but he didn't like telling people he'd just met his problems, "I'll tell you later." he finally said before slipping past them and heading down to the main school building.

"Well, that went well." Carly commented dryly.

For the first time ever Freddie had no idea what was going through his best friends mind and it terrified him. "It went just splendid" he muttered. He would find out what was going on with his best friend, and he knew exactly who to press for information.

Carly Shay was late, she hated being late, but her alarm had gone off late so she had to rush getting ready, then she'd realized she had forgotten her ID card so she'd had to nip back home. All in all this wasn't the brunette news anchor's day, when she finally made it to work her blonde co-anchor and former (current? She wasn't quite sure how it worked) best friend was waiting for her in the door way. "You're late." Was all she said.

"I can be late sometimes." Carly said.

"You're Carly Shay, You're never late." Sam reminded her.

"I can be late." the brunette said defensively.

Her blonde friend looked at her curiously, "Since when?"

"Since now." she replied.

"Ah."

"Ah?" the new arrival asked, irritation creeping into her voice.

"Yes Ah." replied the amused blonde, a smirk on her face as Carly pushed past her into the news station "What, did your alarm not go off?" she asked dryly.

"Actually, that's pretty much what happened."

"You're kidding?"

"No I'm not."

"That's so dumb Carls."

A hurt look flashed through Carly's eyes, though Sam didn't notice, "Please don't call me that."

"Why?"

"Freddie used to call me that."

The conversation died there, Carly had experienced many awkward silences in her life but this one was different. "The silence is deafening." she muttered aloud.

"What was that?"

"Nothing... Let's just get to work."

Sam stared at her old friend for a moment, as if trying to figure out what was going through her head, "You're acting awfully weird today."

"Am I?" Carly replied halfheartedly "My mind's just drifting I suppose."

"Carly told me what your son is planning." Sam said, "Are you worried about them reviving it?"

"Worried? Why would I be worried?"

"Because they're following in our footsteps and, let's face it cupcake, we didn't turn out so well."

"It's our job to teach them from our mistakes." Carly said firmly. She paused for a moment, almost visibly deflated, "But I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to Freddie, he's the only thing I really have left... He's what kept me going, when I found out about him, I had no idea what to do after he died... I was lost for a while, then I found out I was going to have Freddie Jr."

"He seems like a nice kid." Sam offered.

"He is."

"Must take after his Dad."

"He does."

The conversation died off again and this time neither woman tried to revive it. Finally it was time for them to go on the air for the first broadcast of the morning news. The broadcast wasn't perfect, nor was it a disaster, but it was obvious Carly couldn't think straight. During the first commercial break Sam turned to her friend "Spill." she ordered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." the brunette replied.

"You're distracted, is it about the iCarly thing?"

"Maybe."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Stop avoiding it."

"Sam, listen, I'm fine... I just had a rough night last night."

Sam shook her head, "You know you can talk to me if you need to... Right?"

Carly looked at her and hesitated before nodding "I know."

Sam sighed, the hesitation telling her more than the nodding or her reply, "Good."

After the morning news Carly headed for the door, she had quite a break between her broadcasts, but was intercepted by Sam "You don't trust me."

"What do you mean?"

"When I asked if you knew you could talk to me, you hesitated."

"Oh..." Carly looked away and sighed, "Sam..."

"So what, you can't talk to me?" the blonde demanded.

"It's not that!"

"Then what is it?"

Carly sighed again, the hurt look in Sam's eyes killed her, and hesitated again "It's complicated..."

"No it's not!" Sam exclaimed, "It's me and you, just like the old days."

"That's just it!" Carly said, "They're called the old days for a reason, they're old, you can't come back and expect one little dinner to fix everything... I forgave you for leaving, I understand why you left, but how do I know you won't take off again? I'm not going to trust you overnight Sam... Just give it time."

Before Sam could reply Carly pushed passed her and took off, leaving the blonde feeling confused and slightly hurt. _Maybe she's right_ thought Sam before she took off for her car.

Freddie Jr. looked out the window from his math class, he hated math with a passion, and bit back a yawn. His mind was fifty miles away, he hadn't seen Kurt all day and it really bothered him, he planned to corner his best friend.

Across the room Carly was in her own little world, staring at Freddie, and jumped when someone beside her tapped her on the shoulder. "Can I borrow a Pencil?"

"Um, sure." she replied with a false smile and pulled a pencil out of her pocket. She had no idea who this girl was, she hadn't really taken the time to get to know anyone besides Freddie and his friends yet, but this girl seemed nice enough.

"Thanks." the girl said and took the pencil. Carly opened her mouth to say something else but thought better of it and turned around to try and focus on the lesson. Her eyes wandered over to Freddie and a soft sigh escaped her lips, she knew he was bothered by the situation with Kurt... It was so obvious, but at the same time she had no idea how to help him; he knew Kurt better than she did.

Finally the bell rang and she noticed him almost jump out of his seat _He must be trying to corner Kurt_ she realized as she quickly and quietly followed him, forgetting totally that she had lent the girl behind her a pencil, through the hallway. She didn't know Kurt very well, but she was worried about him, and watched as he cornered his best friend.

"Dude, have you been avoiding me?" Freddie asked.

Kurt, with a 'deer in the headlights' look on his face, turned to face Freddie "Of course not bro, you're my best friend."

"Then what's going on? You've been acting weird since I found you on-" Freddie began but stopped at the glare he received from Kurt.

"Alright, let's go somewhere private in talk? I don't want more people hearing about this than have too."

Freddie let Kurt lead him out of the school around to the back of the building where they had spent many mornings playing their portable gaming systems together.

"When I woke up this morning my parents were arguing..." Kurt began.

"How bad was it?"

"Really bad, as in my Mom said she was filing for divorce." Kurt looked down and began to fidget.

"W-Wow... I don't.." Freddie was speechless, he wanted to tell his best friend it would be okay but he wasn't sure the words would come out. "You know what though?"

"No, but I know his cousin Who." came the joking response.

" . Very funny... Anyway, I was going to say that even though they're divorcing you have both parents, you have friends who care about you, and you have me."

Kurt allowed himself a small smile "What makes you so different from my 'friends who care about me?'"

"I'm not just a friend, even if it's not by blood, I'm your brother and don't you ever forget it. Gibson."

"Oh believe me Benson, I don't think I ever will.. " Kurt stuck his fist out and the two friends fist bumped, "Oh and there was something else."

The smile faded from his face, "What is it?"

"Right before you and Puckett walked in Miranda and I..."

"Kissed?" Freddie guessed.

"Wait, you knew and you weren't upset?"

"I guessed, and why would I be upset? You're the best guy I know; I couldn't imagine anyone better for her... But if you hurt her, brother or not I will hurt you."

"Deal."

"We're supposed to be at your Uncle Spencer's house soon aren't we?"

"Crap, I can't believe I almost forgot, let's go!"

They walked back around the building to find Carly waiting for them, "Everything fine now?" she asked.

"It's all good." they said in unison.

"Good, now don't we have some place to be?" she asked.

"That we do." Freddie said.

Freddie led them to Spencer's house and knocked nervously. The door opened and Miranda stood in the doorway, "Oh hey guys." she said, her face turning pink when she saw Kurt. "What're you guys doing here?"

"We're here to talk to Uncle Spencer about something." Freddie said, clearing his throat.

"Oh.. He went to get some supplies; he should be back in ten, maybe fifteen minutes." The brunette girl said.

Kurt pushed passed Freddie and stood in front of Miranda "Can we talk." He muttered to her.

She nodded and they disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Freddie and Carly alone.

"What do you think they're talking about?" she asked, trying to set up a conversation.

"Oh, I know exactly what they're talking about." he said with a cocky smirk, "They won't be long."

Carly opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it but thought better of it "So, do you really think we can do this iCarly?"

"Why not?" he asked, "Our parents started it, it's up to use to continue it... You have doubts? I'm sure we'll do fine as hosts."

"Oh no... I know we have chemistry." she said with a smile that could almost be described as flirty. "I just hope we know what we're doing."

"I know that we do." he said, ending the conversation.

Meanwhile Kurt was looking at Miranda and trying to form a coherent sentence, finally he said "You kissed me."

"I did."

"I liked it."

"So did I."

"We should do it again."

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

Miranda looked at him playfully, "Yeah maybe, I don't just kiss anyone you know."

"But you kissed me." He pointed out.

"Yes I did." she said.

His eyes lit up as if he had just realized a great secret "Maybe we could um.. Go to a movie sometime?"

"You buying?"

"I am."

"Then just name the time and place" She said, placing a soft kiss on his cheek, and walked back into the living room. Kurt turned to look the doorway leading into the living room; he could see her talking to his best friend and the blonde girl who stood beside him. He let his eyes focus on Carly for a moment and sighed.

For reasons the young Gibson couldn't explain he didn't trust her; he chalked this up to jealousy that his best friend had a new friend but he hated the idea that he was so insecure that he felt threatened by her. He shook his head clear of these thoughts and headed back into the living room.

"So what's going on?" he asked, summoning up all the false cheerfulness he could muster.

"Miranda texted her Dad, he gave us the go ahead, so I'm going to Call Mom and ask if I can go ahead and get the site up, you can set it up when you get back."

"Where am I going?"

"You need to go get your Camera and laptop, remember?"

"Oh right! I'll be back in... Twenty minutes maybe."

Miranda smiled, "Be careful." she said.

"Oh I will." iCarly's new tech producer said and left.

Freddie pulled out his phone and grinned excitedly, "this is going to be fun." he said.

Three rings and his Mother picked up, "Hello?"

"Hey Mom, Uncle Spencer gave us the go ahead, can I go ahead and get the site up?"

"Of course, good luck Freddie, I'm sure you'll make your father proud."

"And my mother?" he asked playfully, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.

"She's already proud of you."

"Bye Mom, I love you."

"I love you too."

He hung up, pretending not to notice the strained tone in her voice, and headed upstairs to where Spencer kept his laptop and began typing in things. Thankfully no one had taken as a URL since the old site had been shut down so it was easy enough for Freddie to get the website paid for.

Finally Kurt showed up and Freddie passed the technical part over to his best friend. Within minutes the website was up, with a new logo and ready for their first web show, "You guys ready?"

"Ready!" replied the two co-hosts of the revived webshow.

Their first broadcast went off without a hitch, Carly and Freddie worked well with each other, they had nothing rehearsed so they relied on improve skits and modified versions of skits they had seen on the original show.

After the show Freddie hugged Carly and grinned, "you were great." he whispered.

"Thanks." she said, looking away to hide her blush.

Freddie pulled away from her and walked over to Kurt "We did it bro!"

"That we did." Kurt replied with a grin.

They bumped fists and grinned "So why don't you go celebrate with Miranda?" Freddie teased.

"You know?"

"Of course I know; I've been waiting for you to make a move."

"Oh..."

Shaking his head the host of the new iCarly grinned, "You're so dense sometimes man, she's been into you since last year."

Kurt laughed, "Alright alright, I'm going...Maybe you can celebrate too." he suggested.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean."

"Oh... I think you do." Came the retreating voice of Kurt.

Carly walked over and smiled, "So... Think they'll like us?"

"Well, how about we check?"

"You can do that?"

"Course I can."

He opened the laptop and accessed the website "Seems we're a hit with some, merely okay with others."

"Just okay?"

"Well, they say we need to rehearse."

"That makes sense, we need to come up with skits of our own, just stealing our parent's ideas seems... Wrong."

"I agree, but I'm sure between the three- I mean four of us we'll be alright."

Carly headed for the door and smiled, "I need to get home Freddie... Maybe we can meet up tomorrow?"

"Count on it." he said, "Bye Carly."

"Bye Freddie."

After she left he shut the laptop and sighed, doubts were creeping into his mind like sand in an hour glass. He glanced up at the sky and smiled "I hope you're proud of me." he muttered softly before heading downstairs to join his best friend and cousin.

Sam and Carly glanced at each other, they'd had another break before the evening news and when Carly had mentioned that everything was ago to bring back iCarly the blonde haired woman had insisted that they watch it while on break.

"They did amazing." Carly said, obviously relieved.

"They did... It was weird though."

"What was?"

"It was like we stepped back in time and were watching us start our own web show again" the brunette let herself laugh and shook her head "Should we give them ideas?"

"Nah, they need to figure out their own ideas."

"That makes sense."

"Of course it does, Mama is never wrong."

"You still do that?"

"What?"

"Call yourself 'Mama'"

Sam shrugged, "I haven't in a while actually; maybe we really are going back in time."

"Sam..."

"What?"

"It's impossible to go back in time."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do."

"How do you know?"

Carly sighed, it felt good to banter with her friend again, it felt almost natural, but she knew they weren't friends like they used to be, and she wasn't sure they ever would be.

"I just do."

"...Fine."

Carly rolled her eyes and checked her phone "C'mon, we got work to do."

"I hate work."

"Part of life."

"I know, but I still hate it."

The brunette anchor-woman shook her head at her blonde co-worker and thought briefly about what she would say to her son when she got home. She took a moment to glance up and smiled _I hope you're proud of him, I know I am._ She shook her head before heading back to work, pushing all other thoughts out of her head.

**Note: **Whew, 12 pages long this one, I hope you guys like it. I'd also like opinions on turning this into a 3 part story, chronicling parts of Freddie's life in various stages. I'm also working on a soundtrack, thanks Mix for the idea, so I'll post it on Tumblr then post the link on my profile. Also thank you Mix for being my constant, and awesome, reviewer!


	9. Epilogue

Carly stared at the headstone; it was made out of black marble. The front read:

Freddie Benson

February 4th, 1994- October 15th, 2018

With Love We Remember

While the back had a poem Carly and Marissa had picked out:

**A million times we've needed you,**

**A million times we've cried.**

**If love alone could have saved you,**

**You never would have died.**

**If all the world was ours to give,**

**We would give it, yes, and more,**

**To see you coming up the steps,**

**And walking through the door.**

**To hear your voice and see your smile,**

**To sit and talk a while,**

**To be with you that same old way,**

**Would be our fondest day.**

Carly walked around to the back of the headstone and traced the poem, permanently carved into the marble headstone, and smiled bitterly "I miss you." she said to the headstone. The cold, uncaring marble didn't reply but she kept talking "Freddie's getting so big now... He's almost done with middle school... I remember middle school." she said with a wistful sigh.

"So do I" came a familiar voice behind her.

"Hey Sam." Carly said, not moving an inch.

"I figured you'd be here cupcake."

"Yeah... I needed to see him."

Sam opened her mouth to correct her but thought better of it, "I miss him too, I actually came to see the grave but I had this odd feeling you'd be here." She walked over to where Carly was still examining the headstone, as if it held some secret no one but she knew. "Nice poem." she finally said as she read the words on the back of the headstone.

"It doesn't seem like it's been fourteen years." the brunette girl said softly.

"I know... I haven't seen him in.." She trailed off, "and I won't ever get to see him again. We had our issues but... I miss him Carly, I miss his nerdiness, I miss teasing him and I miss... I miss hearing his voice."

Carly looked up at the blonde girl, "He'd totally rub that in your face if he heard you say that."

"I know..." She said, managing a smile, "I might even let him if he was still here."

Carly walked back around to the front of the Grave "I wonder if his Mom has been here lately."

"Are you kidding? I'm surprised she doesn't live here." She said before realizing something, "Wait... You don't see her anymore?"

"We had a bit of a... Falling out, over how I raised Freddie."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Freddie goes over there sometimes but... It's obvious he doesn't like being treated like an infant."

"So what exactly happened?"

Carly looked up with a sigh "It was something really stupid, she didn't like something I did, I don't remember... maybe it was giving him candy? Anyway we had an argument and I told her to get out. She hasn't spoken to me since."

Sam shook her head, "I always said that woman was insane."

"You thought it was funny what she did to Freddie."

"Maybe, but she was still insane."

"I'm going to bring Freddie here later.. I just wanted to-"

"See him first." Sam finished for her.

"Exactly..." She looked at her watch, "I need to go pick him up now."

"Doesn't he usually walk?"

"Yeah, but I want to go straight from the school to back here."

"Ah Alright... Well I'm going to go see Gibby; I just realized I haven't seen him since I came into town."

"He could probably use some support, last time I saw Tasha she was considering filing for divorce."

Sam winced, "Alright... See ya later Cupcake."

Carly waved in response as she headed to her car.

Freddie looked at the clock impatiently, he wanted to get home and work on new skits for iCarly. The web show had started slow, but with some advertising ideas from his mom they had slowly picked up viewers.

He glanced at Kurt, who was looking out the window. He knew things had become more serious between him and his cousin in the last couple of weeks since they had hooked up, Freddie was happy for them but for some reason there was an odd look, like he knew something Freddie didn't, when he talked about his co-host.

Finally the bell rang and he almost ran out of the room to his locker when he heard a familiar voice behind him, "Hey bro, what's goin' on?"

"I'm heading to my house, to start working on ideas... Remember? You and Carly will be there?"

"Oh right, I forgot." he said, "Listen I may be a little late -"

"Dude come on, you've been late every day... Just bring her too , I want to have some words with my cousin anyway."

"Alright, alright."

As soon as he turned on his phone it rang with a text from his mother, informing him she was picking him up after school.

"Actually, scratch that." he said with a sigh, "My mom is picking me up for something."

Miranda walked up behind Kurt and kissed his cheek "What's goin' on guys?"

"Freddie was just telling me that rehearsal was canceled for iCarly because his Mom is picking him up."

"That's okay, I'm supposed to help a new kid in class with her science and math."

Freddie smirked, "You? Tutoring? I didn't know you were a comedian."

"Oh shut it Benson." She growled.

"Why don't you make me?"

Before she could say anything another girl walked up and said, "Hi!" she said excitably

"Hi Emma." Freddie, "What's up?"

"I'm new here, just transferred last week, I'm looking for Miranda Shay."

"I'm right here."

"Oh!" she said and giggled, "I'm the one you're supposed to tutor! Won't it be just awesome?!"

"Yeah...Awesome."

Freddie laughed, "Alright I'll see you guys later."

"See ya bro!"

Freddie waved half halfheartedly and walked out of the building, his mind racing at the various reasons why his Mother would pick him up. _Maybe something's happened to Uncle Spencer_ He thought, _No... If that was the case then Miranda would be going too._

He waved as Carly pulled up and he slid into the car "What's up Mom? You never pick me up, even on your days off."

"Well... I have a surprise for you."

"Oh yeah?" He asked excitedly, "What kind of surprise."

She sighed, "Well.. You'll see when we get there."

The drive wasn't very long, but it was oddly quiet which made it seem longer than it actually was, but finally they pulled up to a cemetery and all excitement Freddie may have felt died quickly "Mom...?"

"Freddie." she said, "This is where your father is buried."

His heart stopped for a moment, "C-Can we see his Grave?"

She nodded, "That's why we're here."

They walked in complete silence, Freddie's mind too distracted to ask any questions.

Finally they reached Freddie Sr.'s grave and Freddie Jr. froze. This was it, this was where the man he would have called Dad was buried.

Finally he spoke "It's not fair.."

"No it's not." came the gentle voice of his Mother.

"Why did he have to go?"

Carly felt her heart break at the words from her son "I don't know... I really don't."

His vision began to blur and he realized he was crying, "Did the man who did this to us... To him, did he pay?"

"Yes he did." she said softly, "He was... He got what he deserved."

"What happened to him."

"You don't need to worry about that." She said.

He opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself, it wasn't important. "I saw him on the old iCarly tapes... What Sam did to him was inexcusable."

"I know."

The anger in his body was strange, he had never really gotten angry in his life but now he couldn't seem to control his emotions "When I was a kid, and you told me the hero story... You said you didn't know why the hero's crush didn't save him from the other friend... You meant you and Sam didn't you?"

"Yes."

"You miss him... Don't you?"

"Every day."

He touched the headstone and almost recoiled, the thing was ice cold, _I wonder if death is like that_ he thought as he outlined the words on the front with his fingers. "He's been dead for almost fourteen years." he muttered to himself.

He stood there, staring at the headstone like it held secrets he could unlock just by starting at it, secrets he needed to know. Finally he turned to look at her, "C.. Can we go?"

She nodded "Of course... If you need to come back I'll happily bring you."

"Thanks Mom."

_I will come back and see you._ He promised as he turned to look at the grave one last time _I just need time to get to know you_. He planned to study those iCarly dvd's a lot closer now, they seemed like the best link he had to his dad.

Gibby didn't look up as the door to his restaurant opened and someone walked in "How can I help you?"

"I'll take some ham, some bacon... and maybe an old friend to go?" Came a familiar voice.

"Sam?" he asked looking up, "Sam!" he said and walked around the counter to hug her "How've ya been Sam?"

"I've been good; I see you opened a restaurant."

"Welcome to my dream!"

"I thought your dream was the restaurant in our school basement?"

"Opening a restaurant, any restaurant, is my dream Sam."

"To bad I have a job already; I really liked working in your restaurant, beating people with a butter sock."

Gibby let out a laugh, "I liked your hot meat sandwiches better."

"The secret was hot meat." she teased.

"So you say, but no one has ever been able to make 'em like you did."

"You flatter me." She said, "So what's new Gibby?"

"Well... I'm getting a divorce."

The blonde girl winced, "Sorry kid, Carly told me she was considering it but..."

He shrugged, "I don't think either of us has been happy for a long time; I was dreading it but I'm more worried about Kurt's reaction."

"Wow, you have grown up."

"People tend to do that."

"Fair enough, now can I get some food? I'm starving."

He laughed "What'll you have?"

"I told you, Ham, bacon and... I dunno, Canadian bacon?"

"Ham, Bacon, and more ham." he repeated as he wrote it down, "Coming right up."

Rolling her eyes "Oh and coffee."

"Gotcha."

Her food arrived a few minutes later and she dug in "This is one thing I could never quit." she said between mouthfuls of food, "Ham and Bacon."

"Something tells me I have a new best customer."

"Yeah yeah, so tell me about you and..."

"Tasha."

"Oh! She came back?"

"Yeah, She was in Europe modeling I guess... Anyway, she tracked me down and we hit it off again." He paused to take another order before turning his attention back to the story and grabbed himself a cup of coffee. "We ended up getting married after we found out she was expecting Kurt."

"I will never get used to the idea of you being a parent." Sam interrupted.

"Yeah me either, I wish Freddie could have met him.."

"I stopped by his grave today."

"Oh?" His voice got quieter, more focused.

"Yeah...It's a resting place he deserved."

They both went silent for a moment before Gibby raised his own cup of coffee "To old friends and... To missed friends."

"To friends you wish you could apologize to." Sam said and sipped from her coffee.

"You got regrets?" He asked.

"Gibby, my entire childhood is one big regret."

"Surely there was a bright spot."

"Of course... Carly and iCarly."

"Ah yes... I heard our kids our continuing it."

"Who better to continue the legacy?" She asked, "It's our... I dunno, it's what we're giving them, their inheritance in a way."

"Wow, when did you get so smart?"

"When I grew up, people tend to do that."

He laughed at that, "Fair enough."

She finished her meal and he took the plate away, "Hate to eat and run, but I got some things to do." She said, "Call me sometime." she said and gave him her number.

"Will do." he said, "It was nice seeing you again."

"Right back at you." she said as she exited the diner.

Gibby stood there for a moment before another customer walked in and he headed back to work.

Kurt glanced over at Miranda who was doing her homework, "You know; when you invited me over sitting here and watching you do homework wasn't what I had in mind."

She let out a soft giggle and turned to face him, "You should be doing your own homework." she scolded playfully, "Now let me do my work then we'll watch a movie."

He rolled his eyes over dramatically and lay back on the bean bag chair he was sitting in "Fine."

The next twenty minutes were spent by Miranda doing homework while Kurt found ways to entertain himself. Finally she turned in her chair, "All done!" she said.

He jumped out of his chair and grinned, "Alright! What're we gonna watch?"

"Well, Dad and I watched one of his favorite shows, Girly Cow, and it was kind of funny... Want to watch it?"

"I've heard of that, yeah that sounds good."

"Mom makes me watch the censored version though, just a heads up."

He sighed, "Yeah I figured."

They headed downstairs, they had been in her room while she did homework, and he sat on the couch while she popped in one of the DVD's.

After she sat down Kurt scooted over and wrapped an arm around her, "It's about time we got to relax a little bit." he said softly.

She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder "Yeah, I've been looking forward to this all day."

He laughed, "Me too." he said softly, "Me too."

They settled in to watch the show enjoying each other's company.

Carly looked down at her phone and brushed her blonde hair out of her eyes _Why would he up and cancel like that?_ It was unlike Freddie to cancel a rehearsal for iCarly and she was getting worried, he hadn't answered any of her texts _I sound like a jealous ex-girlfriend_ She realized, _What am I doing?. _She flipped her phone shut and plopped down on her bed.

She'd been on the way to Freddie's house for rehearsal, her mind full of ideas, when she'd gotten the text that rehearsal had been canceled and, after texting Freddie three or four times and getting no reply, she'd gone home.

_He might need your help_ Her consciousness argued, _Remember when he found out about his Dad? Maybe he found something else out? _She bit her lip in confusion, why was this so difficult? _But if he needed me he'd talk to me._

Finally she couldn't take it anymore; she was going to go check on her friend. The walk to Freddie's house took a few minutes, enough time for her to clear her head and get her thoughts in order. She knocked on the door and was greeted by the older Carly.

"Carly?" the older woman asked, "You're looking for Freddie?"

"Y-Yes." She said.

The older woman smiled gently, "He's upstairs, he could probably use a friend."

She took a deep breath and smiled, glad she came over. She slipped past the older brunette woman and headed upstairs. "Freddie?"

"I'm in here." Came the familiar voice of her friend.

She walked into his room and saw him sitting on his bed, watching one of the iCarly DVD's, the volume on full. He paused as a boy, presumably Freddie Sr., turned the camera on himself. "Is that..?"

"Yes, that's my father."

She walked over and sat beside him "He was handsome, like you."

"Thanks..."

"What's going on Freddie?"

"Mom took me to... His grave."

"Oh."

"It was, odd... Seeing the man that I call father buried six feet under with a nice little headstone that gave his birth date and death date."

She put a hand on his back and smiled "It's okay..."

He shook his head, "It's so... Clean, organized." he said, "A man is dead and all we get is a nice headstone and some memories... Memories I don't even have."

She frowned and hugged him "I'm sorry... I know what it's like to not have a father."

He laughed, "Yeah... I guess you do." he said softly, "I'm sorry for that."

"It's okay, Mom doesn't think I know but he ran out when he found out she was having me."

"How'd you find out?" he asked curiously.

"I overheard her talking on the phone." she said.

"Oh." He looked up at her, "Thank you... It seems like you're always there when I need you."

She looked away, smiling "We're friends right? That's what friends do." She turned to look at him, her face turning slightly red.

"Your face is red." he muttered, "You got a fever?"

"No I'm fine.." she said softly.

Their eyes locked and he started to lean towards her when a pounding noise came from the other side of the door "Are you staying for dinner Carly?"

They both jumped, forcibly brought out of their moment. "Um, no Mrs. Shay, My mom wants to go out and eat tonight."

She noticed the look of disappointment that flashed through his eyes and smiled "Sorry Freddie, but I need to go."

He nodded and stood up, "Walk you home?"

She paused, desperately wanting to say yes but also wanting to be alone, "No I'll be alright."

He didn't respond, instead he walked with her to the door "See you tomorrow then." he said.

She nodded, "I look forward to it."

She heard the door close with a click as she started walking. A strong wind blew her hair in front of her eyes but she was so lost in thought she didn't notice. _He almost kissed me_ She realized with a soft smile, the thought of him kissing her sent a warm feeling down her body _Why didn't I kiss him? _She realized she was disappointed that they'd been interrupted but at the same time relieve, she didn't know if he was actually interested or just emotionally vulnerable, he'd never really shown much interest in her before.

_Growing up sucks_ She decided as she kicked at a small rock on the sidewalk, sending it flying against a nearby telephone pole. When she got home she could smell food "Mom?" she called.

"In here." Sam called from the kitchen

"Dinner ready?" asked the younger Puckett when she entered the kitchen.

"Almost."

"Okay..."

"What's troubling you?" Sam asked.

"W-What? Nothing!"

"Don't lie to me, I'm your Mother... I know when you're lying."

"It's just... Growing up."

"Ah."

"Ah?"

Sam laughed, "I was a teenager once." she said, "Granted I wasn't a normal teenager."

"You weren't?"

"Nope, I was a fighter... I only had one friend, no one else could really stand me."

"What about Freddie's father?"

Sam paused, trying to form a coherent sentence. "That was...Complicated."

"The iCarly videos didn't seem to make it very complicated."

Sam winced inwardly "Point taken... Listen Freddie and I were held together by Carly... She was our glue really."

"You mean Freddie's mom?"

"Yup, she was my best friend and he was in love with her, so he tolerated me."

"Oh.." She sighed, not sure what to say.

"It's okay, it was my fault really... I didn't exactly help things."

"How do you know when a guy likes you?" Carly suddenly asked.

Sam's eyes widened in understanding and she sighed, "That's a complicated answer. It's different really for every boy."

"O-Oh."

"Most won't be shy about it, I remember Freddie wasn't shy about telling Carly how he felt."

_Let's hope Jr. takes after his father_ Carly thought.

"Anything else bothering you?"

"Nope, I'm going to go upstairs and read over my book report."

After she left Sam sighed in relief, she loved her daughter and would do anything for her but she sucked with advice, she didn't have a clue what to say to her daughter and she felt bad about it. _Maybe Carly will know... She was always better with advice than I was. _She thought.

The next few days went by in a blur; Sam didn't get a chance to talk to Carly until the next week, a few days before the last day of 8th Grade for the new iCarly trio.

Kurt walked up to Freddie and grinned, "We're done with middle school!" he said excitedly.

"We still have the rest of the week, remember?"

"You've gotta ruin everything, don't you?"

Freddie laughed, "It's my job bro."

"Yeah yeah.. Listen, I know we haven't gotten to hang out like we used to."

"Don't worry about it, You've got a girlfriend... I knew this would happen eventually."

"You did?"

"Dude..." Freddie sighed, "It's called thinking ahead, we grow up, we get girls... We value what time we get without friends more."

"That's... Deep."

"Don't you forget it Gibson."

"You wanna start something Benson?"

They both started laughing and high fived each other and headed to class.

Sam managed to catch her best friend during their lunch break, "Hey Carls can I talk to you?"

"Sure..." The brunette girl said,

"Well, a couple nights ago Carly asked me about boys..."

"And you had no idea what to tell her." Carly finished.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

Her brunette Co-Anchor smiled knowingly, "Because I had to teach you about boys and even then I don't think you ever really got the hang of it."

"Well I must have did something right, I ended up with Carly."

"True... But listen, on this one I can't help." she said.

Sam looked at her, obviously disappointed. "Why?"

"Because Sam, part of being a parent is learning from your mistakes and learning to live with them."

She sighed, "I guess..."

"Listen, the best advice you can give her is straight from your heart."

"Okay Miss Fortune Cookie."

Carly giggled slightly, "Well it's true, just trust me."

"When did things get so complicated?"

Carly's smile faded slowly, "When we grew up I suppose."

Sam turned to focus on her sandwich, not quite sure what to say to that.

The next few days went by without incident and finally it was the last day of school. Freddie walked through the doors and yawned, _You're a freshman now Benson_ He thought, _Time keeps ticking away_.

Carly and Kurt walked up behind him and grinned, "New iCarly tonight right?"

"Of course." He said, grinning "I wouldn't miss it."

He watched as kids exited the building and sighed _I'm rather looking forward to this summer_. He thought as the trio headed to his house.

**Note: **Whew long one, this is the final chapter of this story, though there will be a sequel taking place during the new iCarly's senior year and a few more oneshots probably. Please read and review, I don't own iCarly and I don't own the poem on Freddie's tombstone, I found it on the net.


End file.
